Lincoln dumps Cheyney to remain hot

THORNBURY» Coming into the annual “Battle of the Firsts,” the Lincoln University women’s basketball team was off to its hottest start since joining Division II, reeling off four easy wins without a defeat as it entered the Wolves Den against Cheyney.

Cheyney, meanwhile had been struggling, with just one win in its first seven games.

But records generally mean little when the two non-conference archrivals square off. And Cheyney did play tough for the first half, holiding multiple leads. But in the end, the Lions’ balanced attack led them to a fifth straight win, 80-63.

Cheyney came out of the gate strong, pouring in the first three baskets of the game before Lincoln finally got on the board. But the Lions wasted no time correcting course, and took off on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a pair of steals by Amani Clark.

Lincoln pushed the lead up to 18-10 before Cheyney once again found a rhythm, and took a 19-18 advantage on a 3-pointer from Lila Jones.

Clark took charge once again, notching another steal and taking it the distance to put the Lions back up by one.

With Clark pouring in twelve of her game-high 20 points in the first 20 minutes, Lincoln led 36-31 at the break. Cheyney’s Kia Duncan-Whitley nearly matched her over the same span, notching 10 first-half points.

“We just had to get back to doing what we know how to do,” said Clark. “I think sometimes we have a bad habit of starting slowly.

The packed house and an archrival school has something to do with it, too.

“I think you underestimate exactly what this atmosphere is going to be like,” said Lincoln coach Jessica Kern. “We’ve been here to scout, and they’ve been to our place to scout. But you don’t know how kids are going to react until they get in the situation.”

The Lions took charge in the second half, showcasing their balanced attack by taking whatever the Wolves gave them — Clark and Courtney Smith took charge on the perimeter, though Clark wasn’t against driving the lane if she found it open.

“I would have liked to see some stronger play from our post players,” said Kern.

The Lions never trailed again, with its largest lead reaching 25 points with 1:52 to play.

All told, 10 different players scored for the Lions, with three reaching double digits. Trailing Clark was Teira Pendleton with 12 and Courtney Smith, off to the best start of her career, notching 11.

It’s all about my teammates,” said Smith. We all encourage each other and we don’t care where it comes from.”

Lincoln has been a scoring machine in the early going, with better than 74 points in all five games, and topping the 80 point plateau twice.

“It’s been great to see us scoring the way we have, but even better how many different players are scoring,” and it’s been someone new every night.

The Wolves fall to 1-7, but showed they can scrap with a quality opponent. The Lions depth simply proved too much, as the Cheyney starters racked up the minutes while the Lions kept fresh legs on the f loor. Turnovers also proved costly for Cheyney, with the Wolves coughing it up 29 times.

Lila Jones was one of two Wolves to reach double digits, credited with 14 points on 4 of 9 shooting. Kia Whitley-Duncan chipped in 10 points.