JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Niyah Jackson hit a layup with 1.6 seconds remaining as the Lincoln women's basketball team rallied from a halftime deficit to beat Newman, 51-50, on Thursday evening (Jan. 13).

Jackson, who dished six assists, grabbed six rebounds and stole the ball three times, finished the night with 14 points, though none were bigger than that last basket. Newman had made a second-chance layup with five seconds to play, and Lincoln called timeout to advance the ball down the court. Jackson took the inbound pass, weaved between a pair of NU defenders and made the layup to give LU back the lead. Newman heaved a desperation three as time expired, but the shot ricocheted off the backboard and the Blue Tigers secured their first MIAA victory of 2021-22.

The Blue Tigers opened the evening cold, falling behind 14-3 in the opening quarter. Lincoln started to come alive in the second quarter, however, making a pair of treys as the Blue Tigers out-scored the Jets, 13-9, for a halftime score of 23-16. Lincoln ended up making eight shots from beyond the arc in the contest, and heated up the second half, shooting over .500 from the field during the final 20 minutes.

Jumpers by Jackson and Kylie Bernskoetter allowed Lincoln (5-10, 1-8 MIAA) to close the gap to three early in the third quarter, but Newman (2-13, 0-9 MIAA) kept the Blue Tigers at bay for much of the period. The teams exchanged baskets and Lincoln could not get any closer than within two until the final shot of the quarter, when Kelsey Mitchell hit a jumper inside the paint to pull LU to within 33-32. Bernskoetter scored seven points and pulled down three rebounds, and Mitchell finished with five points, four boards, a pair of assists and a steal.

The Jets went back up by three by making the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but Lincoln made it a tie game for the first time since it was 0-0 on Aliyah Bello's corner three. Newman took the lead and built it up to four, but back-to-back baskets by Ayreona Carter tied the score back up at 42. Carter tied for the team-lead with six rebounds, and chipped in six points to go with a steal and two blocks.

Lincoln held Newman to just .143 from three-point range for the game, but the Jets made one of their two treys to break the tie. Bernskoetter answered with a three on the other end, but a free throw followed by a jumper put NU back ahead by three, 48-45. LU cut the deficit down to two on a free throw of its own, and after forcing the Jets into a turnover, Bello hit another trey to give Lincoln its first lead of the ballgame and set up the thrilling conclusion. LU ended up scoring 15 points off 16 Newman turnovers, and Lincoln tallied 10 steals on the evening.

Bello scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds, Ashtin Ingram drained a three and AJ Bradley contributed five points, four boards and two steals. Imani Jones had two points and a pair of steals as well as four rebounds, and Mercy Gonzalez also had a rebound. 

Lincoln returns to Jason Gym on Saturday (Jan. 15) to host Central Oklahoma at 1:00 p.m. CST.