HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 5/6 Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team closes out the month of January with a road SAC matinee game at Lenoir-Rhyne. LMU defeated the Bears 73-51 in Harrogate back on Nov. 30.

LMU is currently 18-0 overall and 13-0 in SAC play coming into the game. They are currently ranked fifth in the latest D2SIDA National Media Poll and sixth in the WBCA/USA Today NCAA Division II Coaches Poll. The 13-0 start in SAC play is the best start by any women's basketball team in the history of the conference.

The team is one of only four undefeated teams remaining in the NCAA Division II. Of the other three schools, Ashland hosts Findlay and Virginia Union hosts Chowan on Saturday while Colorado State-Pueblo plays at Chadron State Friday evening.

Currently, LMU sits atop the SAC standings with their 13-0 SAC record. There is a three-way tie for second between Anderson, Catawba and Wingate, all of whom have 10-3 records.

In their last game, LMU grabbed the lead in the second quarter and held off repeated comeback attempts by the Lady Eagles as they rolled out to a 72-65 win over Carson-Newman to improve to 18-0 and take the season sweep of their arch-rival.

Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) led LMU with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Dasia Maxwell (Knoxville, Tenn.) set a new career high with 12 points, Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) chipped in 11 points and Josey Harding had 11 rebounds. Kailyn Brooks led C-N with 21 points.

Saturday's game will be video streamed by L-R, and they will be providing live stats. Links to those are available at the top of this page or on www.lmurailsplitters.com. 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. L-R
· LMU won the prior meeting this season, 73-51, in the Tex Turner Arena.
· Lenoir-Rhyne comes into the game in sixth place in the SAC, trailing Carson-Newman by a game. They currently have a 12-7 overall record and an 8-5 record in SAC play.
· In the last meeting in Hickory on Dec. 2, 2015, it was a nip-and-tuck affair the whole game until a Megan Pittman layup with 3:53 left in the game sparked a 9-1 run. LMU held on to avoid overtime (unlike the men, who went to 4 overtimes) with the 69-66 win.
· After this game, the Lady Railsplitters will travel to Brevard, North Carolina for the final time to face the Tornados next Wednesday. Brevard is in their last season in Division II.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· The current 18 game win streak is the longest win streak during LMU's time in the NCAA and LMU's best start to a season in program history.
· Senior All-SAC performer Megan Pittman leads the team in scoring with an average of 15.5 points a game. She is second on the team in rebounding with 9.8 a game. Pittman is currently shooting 81.1% from the free throw line, which ranks her fifth in the SAC.  She is now second in the SAC in total free throws and third in total rebounds (also third in offensive and fourth in defensive rebounds), fourth in rebounds per game, fifth in points, sixth in blocks and 11th in steals.
· Junior Shea Coker is second on the team in scoring with a 14.2 points per game average. She currently leads the SAC in 3-pt percentage, is fourth in field goal percentage, seventh in made field goals and made three-pointers and ninth in points and points per game.
· Senior Josey Harding currently leads the team and the SAC in rebounding and rebounds per game with 11.3 rebounds a game (Pittman is third, with Wingate's Marta Miscenko between them) and is fourth on the team in scoring with 7.6 points a game. She also currently ranks second in the SAC in offensive and defensive rebounds and fourth in free throws, 13^th in free throw percentage and 16^th in blocks. She set a new SAC single-game rebound record with her 27 at Carson-Newman and with her 23 rebounds at Anderson she became the first LMU player, men or women, to have three 20+ rebound games.
· Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) is third on the team in scoring with 8.7 points a game. She currently is fourth in the SAC in 3-pt. percentage and assist to turnover ratio and is tenth in assists.
· Rachel Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) ranks ninth in the SAC in steals and is ranked nationally in steals and steals per game.
· As a team, LMU ranks first in the SAC in 3-pt. percentage, free throws made, free throw attempts and free throw percentage, offensive rebounds per game and total rebounds per game. They rank second in opponents' three-point percentage, rebound margin, defensive rebounds, field goals made, FG attempts, points and points per game.
· LMU is outshooting their opponents 41.0 percent to 37.0 percent this season. They are outscoring their opponents by a 15.8 points per game margin.
· LMU is ranked fourth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, seventh in rebound margin, fifth in rebounds per game and sixth in offensive rebounds
· The Lady Railsplitters are currently out-rebounding opponents by 10.5 rebounds a game. In the Krystal Evans era, LMU has outrebounded their opponents in 65 of the 76 games played.
· LMU enters the game with a program record of 838-480-1 in 75 seasons of competition.
 
LMU IN THE RANKINGS
· The Lady Railsplitters are ranked sixth in the latest WBCA/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll.       
· The team is ranked in the D2SIDA National Media Poll at the No. 5 spot and has six first place votes.  This is the highest the team has ever been ranked in any poll in program history.
· LMU is also ranked first in the Southeast Region in the latest D2SIDA Media Poll, with 60 total points and all six first place votes.
 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS - Megan Pittman currently has 891 career points, ranking her 24^th. She trails #23 Brandy Brown (1994-98) by 31 points. Harding has 628, Coker has 638, Anderson 337, Mathis 246 and Sims 218.
· REBOUNDS - Pittman has 709 career rebounds, and now is tied for fourth place in the LMU record book with Brandy Brown. She is 15 rebounds behind third-place Robin Cox (1992-96).
· 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 and 3 or more 20+ rebound games.
· Harding currently has 681 rebounds and ranks sixth in career rebounds. She is 28 behind #4 Pittman and Brown.
· FREE THROWS - Harding is 15th all-time in made free throws (230). She trails 14th place Amanda Jackson (1997-01) by six. She is 12th in free throw attempts (325) and is six behind Carrie Shoffner (1985-89).
· Pittman is now 17th all-time in made free throws with 223. She is one behind #16 Melinda Godfrey (1996-98) and trails Harding by seven. With her performance vs. C-N, she moves into 23^rd place in free throw attempts with 274, which translates to third place in career free throw percentage (81.4%).
· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is 13^th in made treys with 73 and trails #11 Ralissa Nelson (2011-13) and Leah Moore (2002-04) by one and former teammate #10 Katrina Ottesen (2013-15) by 16. Coker is also 19^th on the three-point attempts list with 167, and first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .437 percentage. Mathis is 17^th in made treys with 62 and trails #16 Mollie Cooper (1994-97) by six. She is 16^th on the attempts list.
· BLOCKS - Harding is currently in fifth place on the all-time blocks list with 101. She is the fifth player in LMU history to have 100 or more blocks.
· Pittman is also on the blocks list, where she is 16^th with 46 blocks. Pittman is four behind 15^th place Pam Walters (1989-93).
 
LAST TIME VS. LENOIR-RHYNE
· The teams met in Harrogate on Nov. 30. It was a close game in the early minutes until a Sims three-pointer sparked a 15-0 run that the Bears were never able to come back from. In the second half, LMU would extend the lead to as much as 25 and hold on for the 73-51 win.
· In that meeting Shea Coker led LMU with a 13 points, Pittman had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Sims chipped in 10 points. Harding had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Morgan Cooper and Alecia Bell led L-R with 10 points each.
 
SERIES VS. L-R
· Lenoir-Rhyne leads the series 14-7. LMU has won the last three meetings.
· LMU holds a 3-8 record vs. L-R in Harrogate and they are 4-6 in Hickory.
 
SCOUTING L-R
· Lenoir-Rhyne enters the game as the ranked seventh in the SAC in scoring, averaging 58.1 points a game, LMU is second at 79.3.
· The Bears are averaging 32.9 rebounds a game and are out-rebounding their opponents by a margin of 5.8 per game.
· Madi Suddreth leads the team in scoring with 12.1 points a game, followed closely behind by Chelsey Romero with 10.8. Brooke Robinson leads the SAC in field goal percentage.
· Romero is their top rebounder, averaging 7.0 per game.