HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 11/12 Lady Railsplitter basketball team hits the road for a key South Atlantic Conference game as they travel to defending SAC Champion Wingate for a 6 p.m. Wednesday contest.

LMU is off to their best start in modern program history as they are 9-0 overall and 4-0 in SAC play coming into Wednesday's game. The 4-0 SAC start is the best conference start by the Lady Railsplitters since they joined the SAC in 2006.

Currently, LMU is at the top of the SAC standings with a 4-0 SAC record. Anderson and Catawba are tied for second with 3-0 records. Wingate is fourth with a 3-1 record. They are the only other team besides LMU to have played four conference games thus far this season.

In their last game, then-20^th ranked Lady Railsplitters used a 16-2 first-quarter run to blow by Brevard for the 94-65 victory. Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the way with 18 points. Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) had 16 points and nine rebounds. The sister act of Rachel Griffith and Emily Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) both had new career highs with 13 points and 10 points respectively.

Wednesday's game will be video streamed live on WatchESPN and WU will also be providing live stats. Fans listening on the radio can hear play-by-play with Rusty Peace on the LMU Sports Network at 91.3 WLMU-FM and online at www.913thegap.com.
 
LINCOLN MEMORIAL VS. WINGATE
· This is the first meeting between the two schools this season. Wingate will make the trip to Harrogate on Feb. 4. That game will be LMU's Play4Kay/Pink Out game.
· LMU was picked 5th in the pre-season coaches poll and Wingate was picked to finish first.
· Wingate comes into the game with a 5-2 record and a 3-1 record in SAC play. Their losses this year were a 73-72 loss to Clayton State and a 72-63 decision at Newberry.
· Wingate won the last meeting between the two schools in the Tex Turner Arena, a 78-67 decision on Dec. 16, 2015.
· After this game, the Lady Railsplitters return home to host Newberry in the final game of the 2016 portion of the season. Newberry was ranked as high as 23^rd this season in the WBCA poll and hosts Mars Hill this Wednesday.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· The Lady Railsplitters come into the game with a 9-0 record, their best start in the modern 5-on-5 era. The last time a women's basketball team at LMU started off 9-0 (according to available records) was in the 1939-40 season, when they played the old 6-on-6 half court game.
· Should they win, LMU would improve to 10-0 for the first time since the 1939-40 team (who went 10-0) and the fourth time in the 75 years of LMU women's basketball. (The 1930-31, 31-32 and 32-33 teams went undefeated and won 49 straight games. The streak was bookended with losses to Milligan.)
· The last time a LMU team won nine straight games? The 2000-01 season. That year's squad rolled off a nine game win streak in the middle of that season.
· LMU enters the game with a program record of 829-480-1 in 75 seasons of competition.
· The win over #21 Lander was LMU's first win over a ranked opponent since they upset #20 Carson-Newman 56-54 last season.
· Junior Shea Coker is leading the team with 13.9 points a game. She currently ranks 5^th in the SAC in field goals made, 6^th in 3-pt. percentage and made 3-pointers and 7^th in points.
· Senior All-SAC performer Megan Pittman is currently second on the team in scoring with 13.3 ppg. She is currently shooting 86.8% from the free throw line, which ranks her sixth in the SAC.  She is third in the SAC in total free throws and total rebounds (second in offensive and sixth in defensive), sixth in rebounds per game and steals and tenth in points.
· Senior Josey Harding currently leads the team in rebounding with 12.3 rebounds a game. She currently ranks first in the SAC in total rebounds, rebounds per game and defensive rebounds and is fourth in offensive rebounds. She also ranks fourth in total free throws and seventh in blocks. She set a new SAC single-game rebound record with her 27 at Carson-Newman.
· Karsen Sims also is averaging in double figures in scoring with 10.1 points a game. She currently ranks second in the SAC in assist to turnover ratio, second in 3-pt. percentage and 4^th in assists.
· LMU is outshooting their opponents 42.3 percent to 35.3 percent this season.
· The Lady Railsplitters under Krystal Evans have become nationally known for their rebounding, and this year's team currently is out-rebounding opponents by 10.3 rebounds a game. In the Krystal Evans era, LMU has outrebounded their opponents in 57 of the 67 games played.
 
LMU IN THE RANKINGS
· The Lady Railsplitters are ranked 11^th in the latest WBCA/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll. They are tied for the 11^th spot with Bentley.
· The team entered the D2SIDA National Media Poll at the No. 12 position. It is LMU's first appearance in that poll.
· LMU is also ranked first in the Southeast Region in the latest D2SIDA Media Poll, with 2 of the six first place votes.
 
RECORD WATCH
· Megan Pittman has the most career points on the team with 755. Harding has 560, Coker 510, Anderson 252 and Mathis 205.
· Pittman has 615 career rebounds, 8^th all-time. She is 41 rebounds behind seventh-place Robin Adams (1987-90).
· Pittman is now 25^th all-time in made free throws with 183.
· Harding's 27 rebounds against Carson-Newman On Nov. 22 set a new LMU and SAC record for rebounds in a game. She is also the only player in LMU history, men or women, to have consecutive 20+ rebound games.
· Harding currently has 589 rebounds and ranks 10th in career rebounds. She is 26 behind Pittman and 17 behind 9^th place Bridget Long (1990-94).
· Harding is tied for 18^th all-time in made free throws (200). She trails 17^th place Andi Winney (2006-09) by a free throw. She is also now 20^th in free throw attempts with 285.
· Josey Harding is currently in fifth place on the all-time blocks list with 96. She has a tall order to get out of fifth as there is a tie for third with 140 blocks between Tracey Faison (1988-92) and Bridget Long (1990-94).
· Shea Coker and Ross Mathis have moved into the top 20 in made three-pointers. Coker is 19^th with 55 and Mathis is 20^th with 51.
 
LAST TIME VS. WINGATE
· Josey Harding's 20 points and 18 rebounds led LMU in the 83-74 double overtime loss at Wingate on Feb. 6, 2016.
· In addition to Harding's 20 points, Kiara Rawls had 19 points and Britney Guy added in 11 points. Megan Pittman had 10 rebounds.
· Morgan McGee led WU with 24 points.
· LMU outrebounded the Bulldogs 55-51.
· LMU's bench outscored Wingate's by a 35-24 margin. LMU also had 18 points off of WU's turnovers.
 
SERIES VS. WINGATE
· WU leads the series 14-7.
· LMU holds a 5-5 record vs. Wingate in the Tex Turner Arena. They are 2-9 in Wingate.
· The teams have met once in the post-season. In LMU's first year in the SAC, the Lady Railsplitters won the play-in game over Presbyterian and faced Wingate two days later in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals. With both LMU head coach Roger Vannoy and WU head coach Johnny Jacumin retiring after that season, the game was potentially the last game for either coach. The Bulldogs won, 91-54 ending Vannoy's LMU coaching career.
 
SCOUTING WINGATE
· The Bulldogs return twelve letter winners off of last year's team.
· Shelby Tricoli is the top returning scorer from last season while Danasia Witherspoon is the top returning rebounder from last season.
· Marta Miscenko is currently leading the team in scoring with 16.4 ppg and 11.0 rpg.
· Danasia Witherspoon is second on the team in scoring with 13.1 ppg, followed by Carolina Averette with 10.1 ppg.
· Like LMU, Wingate is also dominating on the boards this season, outrebounding opponents by 13.7 rebounds a game.
· Head coach Ann Hancock is in her fifth season with the program. She comes into the game with an 86-43 record at Wingate and a 223-199 overall record.