Staff report

HARROGATE, Tenn. —  Catawba’s women’s basketball team led by nine points on the road with 3:35 remaining, but the Indians couldn’t hold off Lincoln Memorial on Saturday afternoon.

LMU pulled out the South Atlantic Conference struggle, 70-69.

Emily Griffith scored the decisive bucket on a  driving layup with 23 seconds left. Catawba’s Talia Barnes and Madi Hallman missed on potential game-winners late in the contest.

Barnes scored 15 for the Indians (13-12, 8-10) and had seven rebounds. She went 7-for-7 on free throws. Hallman scored 13. Taisha DeShazo scored 12, Shemya Stanback had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

The Griffith twins, Emily and Rachel, supplied 26 points for the LMU Railsplitters (15-11, 10-8). LMU finished a season sweep of the Indians.

A 3-pointer by DeShazo gave the Indians a 14-11 lead after a quarter, but LMU took a 31-28 lead to halftime.

A layup and a jumper by Stanback gave Catawba a 49-47 lead heading to the final quarter.

Catawba moved out to a 63-54 lead before faltering. LMU had a 7-0 run to get back to 63-61, but Hallman hit a 3-pointer with 2:24 remaining.

Stanback fed Barnes who converted a three-point play with 40 seconds left to put Catawba up 69-65, but LMU scored the last six points.

Catawba was solid on 3-pointers (9-for-23) and free throws (10-for-12) but shot 38.5 percent from the field.

Catawba plays at home against Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday.

CATAWBA (69) — Barnes 15, Hallman 13, DeShazo 12, Stanback 12, Webb 6, Phillips 5, Stevenson 3, Garris 3, Wampler, Gardner.

LMU (70) —  E. Griffith 15, R. Griffith 11,  Maxwell 10, Proffitt 10, Newsome 9, Dubose 5, Duggins 3, Kirkpatrick 2, Maney 2, Quarles 2, Wesemann 1.

Catawba   14    14     20   21 — 69

LMU         11     20    16    23 —70