JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Lincoln women's basketball team nearly completed its biggest comeback of the season, but Rogers State held off the Blue Tigers, 81-79, on Thursday night (Jan. 21).

AJ Bradley scored a game-high 28 points to go with three assists and a pair of steals, and Niyah Jackson added 18 points, six assists and four rebounds. Aliyah Bello also scored in double digits, tallying 13 points and six rebounds.

The first quarter was a big one for Rogers State (3-7, 3-7 MIAA), as the Hillcats scored the first 11 points of the contest and at one point led by 28. Back-to-back layups by Bello made the score 37-12 through the first 10 minutes, with the Hillcats setting an MIAA record for points scored in a single quarter.

The second quarter, however, belonged firmly to the Blue Tigers. Lincoln (0-11, 0-11 MIAA) out-scored Rogers State 19-2 during the first eight minutes of the period, and at one point cut its deficit down to five before going into break down 45-37 after RSU hit a buzzer-beating three.

Lincoln ended up out-scoring Rogers State in each of the final three periods, including edging the Hillcats, 20-19, in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Lincoln got all the way back to within one on a Jackson trey with 2:42 to play. RSU answered with a quick layup to go up 74-71, and pushed its lead up to five before a bucket by Haylie Holloway in the final seconds resulted in a two-point Hillcat win. Holloway had five points and two steals for the Blue Tigers.

Ashtin Ingram scored eight points and tallied four rebounds and four blocks. Virja Lewis led LU with seven boards while scoring four points, and Vivian Chigbu had three points, five rebounds and an assist. Simone Jordan also represented the Blue Tigers with three rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Lincoln will be back at home on Saturday (Jan. 23) to host Northeastern State at 1:00 p.m. CST.