HARROGATE, Tenn. -- The Lady Railsplitters (12-11, 9-8 SAC) look to defend their home turf for the sixth straight time on Saturday afternoon as the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (7-14, 6-11 SAC) invade Tex Turner Arena for a South Atlantic Conference battle. Along with that all-important league tilt, Lincoln Memorial University will join the nationwide initiative and turn Tex Turner pink for its annual Play 4Kay game to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
 
The Lady Railsplitters haven't won a road game in two and a half months, but five straight wins in Harrogate have kept them in the heart of the race towards earning a spot in the SAC Championship field. Despite an eight game road losing streak, Lincoln Memorial is sitting in sixth in the league standings with five regular season games remaining. The top eight teams in the final league standings compete in the SAC Championship.
 
Turnovers and some shaky defensive rebounding ultimately cost the Lady Railsplitters in an 84-78 loss at Tusculum on Wednesday night. Lincoln Memorial coughed it up 24 times, which the Pioneers converted into 31 points. Tusculum also accumulated 31 second-chance points off of 21 offensive rebounds. The Lady Railsplitters trailed 71-50 with 6:30 left, but a 28-9 spurt cut the deficit to two points with 27 ticks left. Lincoln Memorial would not score another point in the contest, though, while Tusculum iced it at the charity stripe.
 
The Lady Railsplitters have been an entirely different team at home this season, shooting five percentage points better from the field and 11 percentage points better from three. Lincoln Memorial also grabs five more rebounds on average at home and hands out four more assists. The Lady Railsplitters have lost just once at Tex Turner since the calendar flipped to 2015, an 82-78 defeat at the hands of first-place Anderson on January 7.
 
Something's got to give on Saturday as the Lady Railsplitters have not beaten Lenoir-Rhyne at home since the 2010-11 campaign, and that was the only time Lincoln Memorial has ever defeated the Bears in Harrogate in eight tries. The Lady Railsplitters are looking to snap a five game losing streak to L-R dating back to a 70-52 loss on January 19, 2013.
 
The Lady Railsplitters were dreadful offensively in the first meeting with L-R this season, shooting 39.4 percent (26-for-66) from the field, 33.3 percent (8-for-24) from three and 43.8 percent (7-for-16) from the free throw line in an 85-67 loss in Hickory, N.C. The Bears' starting five produced 77 points with four different players hitting double figures. Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the Lady Railsplitters with 12 points, while Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) collected 10 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
 
That was Lenoir-Rhyne's most convincing win of the season, but the Bears have been unable to build off of that momentum, winning just three of their 11 games since. The Bears suffered their worst loss of the season on Wednesday at the hands of the surging Newberry Wolves. L-R shot 30.5 percent from the field, while Newberry went 26-for-54 from the field in a dominant 65-43 victory. Morgan Cooper scored 12 points, but no other Bear posted more than eight points. Former All-American Jazmine Charles was held to a season-low five points on 2-of-12 shooting.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne is shooting just 39.4 percent as a team, which is mostly a product of poor shooting by its three most high volume shot takers. Charles is scoring 16.7 points per game, but is attempting nearly 16 shots per appearance to reach that mark. She is shooting 37 percent from the field, while Jenni Gust is scoring 12.8 points per game on a paltry 36.4 percent effort. Among the team's top seven scorers, only Brooke Robinson is shooting better than 43 percent from the field. Robinson is contributing nine points and a team-leading 8.9 rebounds per game.
 
Saturday's matchup is given even more significance based on what's left for the Lady Railsplitters. Lincoln Memorial has road trips to Brevard (5-4 at home), Carson-Newman (10-3 at home) and Catawba (7-2 at home) as well as a home game against Wingate (tied for first place in SAC; 8-4 on the road) remaining on its regular season slate.
 
All fans are encouraged to wear pink to Saturday's contest to take part in Lincoln Memorial's Play 4Kay game, which is a function of a nationwide initiative to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, seeking the eradication of women's cancers. Donations will be accepted throughout the afternoon, while a number of fundraising efforts will be taking place in correlation with the game. A ceremonial tip-off - using a pink ball autographed by the Lady Railsplitters - precedes Saturday's game, and that ball will be raffled off. Local breast cancers survivors will also be in attendance to be recognized during halftime of the men's game.
 
Tip-off between LMU and Lenoir-Rhyne is set for 2 p.m. Live stats and an HD video broadcast will be available at www.LMURailsplitters.com. Fans can also listen along with Voice of the Railsplitters Rusty Peace at WLMU 91.3 the Gap.

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