Women’s Basketball

   The Lincoln University women’s basketball team continued their recent trend of good play.  The Blue Tigers have won four of their last six games and three of their five games played in February.  The Blue Tigers scored 20 points off 31 Falcon turnovers in a 67-61 win.

   The Blue Tigers staked early leads of 12-4 and 14-7 before the Falcons jumped in front.  Calli Smith hit a shot with 7:11 to go in the first half to give Texas-Permian Basin a 15-14 advantage.  In the final 7:03 the Blue Tigers outscored the Falcons 19-9 to lead at halftime 33-24.

   A free-throw by Brezette Elder-Wade to complete a three-point play inflated the Lincoln University lead to 13 points, 56-43 with 9:03 left in the game.  Texas-Permian Basin drew within 5 points, 62-57 after Amy Synatschk drained a pair of free-throws at the 2:26 mark.  A basket by Claire Jenkins and Elder-Wade hitting 3 of 4 free throws in the last minute gave the Blue Tigers 67 points.  Smith hit the last shot before the horn to close the Falcons margin of defeat to two points, 67-61.

   Elder-Wade scored 25 points for the Blue Tigers.  Jasmine Washington put in 11.

   Amanda Synatschk led the Falcons with 15 points.  Amy Synatschk added 12 points and a game-high 23 rebounds.  Smith tossed in 11 points.

   Texas-Permian Basin out-rebounded Lincoln University 53-41.

Men’s Basketball

   In a game Lincoln University led for exactly 1:55 of the 40-minute contest, the other 38:05 was owned by Texas-Permian Basin.  The Falcons ravaged the porous Blue Tigers defense in displaying an adept stroke from 3-point range.  The Blue Tigers allowed the Falcons to knock down 54.5 percent (12 of 22) of their 3-point attempts.  It is the best game an opponent has had against the Blue Tigers from behind the arc this season. 

   The Falcons glowing hands made 47.9 percent from the field for the game.  Lincoln University had one of their better shooting contests of the season, making 45.2 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from 3-point distance. 

   What launched the Falcons to the win was the Blue Tigers inability to take care of the basketball.  Lincoln University committed 23 turnovers, tying their second highest number of giveaways in 2006-07.  Texas-Permian scored 36 percent (32 points) of their points off of those turnovers. 

   An early 2-0 lead for Lincoln University was erased as Texas-Permian Basin ran out to a 16-point advantage of 21-5 by the 12:50 mark of the first half.  Jared Boone sank a jump shot with 6:10 to play that capped an 18-3 blast to pull the Blue Tigers within one point, 24-23.  A 3-point basket by Ralph Mata tied the game 38-38 with :33 seconds left.  Jerrod Dastrup gave the Falcons a three-point advantage at halftime, 41-38 after hitting a 3-point shot :12 seconds prior to intermission.

   The Blue Tigers gained their biggest advantage of the game when Jordan Rush made a bucket to increase the score to 52-49 at the 13:12 mark.  Dastrup sparked the Falcons by swishing three consecutive 3-point shots in 1:35 to regain the lead, 58-54.  Texas-Permian Basin gradually separated from Lincoln University, taking a game-high 19 point lead 86-67 with 1:41 to play.  The Blue Tigers narrowed the final margin to 14 points on a game ending 7-2 run.

   Mata was scoring leader in the game with 23 points.  Brandon Harris popped in a career-high 20 points and Jared Boone netted 13. 

   Four Falcons went for double-digits; Rashad Pride (21 points), Jerrod Dastrup (20), Nedrie Simmons (19) and Demitrius Davis (10).  Almost adding a double-double was Matt Zaney who scored 9 points and ripped down a game-high 11 rebounds.

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