AIKEN, S.C. – Season number 75 was one to remember for the LMU women's basketball team as they posted the best season in program history. They enter the program's 76th season ranked in the top 25 in both polls and seeking to improve upon last year's success. The first two steps in that process begin this weekend as they travel to Aiken, South Carolina, to face Lander Friday at 5:30 p.m. and USC Aiken Saturday at 4 p.m.

USC Aiken will be providing both live stats and video of both contests and links to those can be found in the links above or on www.lmurailsplitters.com.

The team is currently ranked 24th in the WBCA Preseason Top 25 Coaches' Poll and 12th in the D2SIDA National media poll. This is the first time in LMU's NCAA era and the first time since 1989 that they open the season nationally ranked.

They were picked to finished second in the South Atlantic Conference in the league's preseason poll that was released earlier this week. Wingate, who returns most of last year's SAC runner-up team, was picked to finish first. Anderson was picked third in the poll.

Shea Coker was named to the Preseason All-SAC First Team. The senior is one of the top shooters not only in the SAC but in the nation, and is the top returning scorer from last year's team.

Lincoln Memorial is 2-1 in season openers in the Krystal Evans era. All of those games have been against Lander in the SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge because it is a four year tournament with the same games being played at a different host site each season. LMU won in the 2014-15 season opener 76-72 at Carson-Newman and last year in the Tex Turner Arena by a 71-67 margin. Lander won in the year they hosted in buzzer-beater fashion 58-56 to open the 2015-16 season.

LANDER – NOV. 10 AT 5:30 PM
Lander enters the contest coming off a 25-8 record last season. They have been picked to finish first in the preseason Peach Belt Conference poll.

They return the PBC Player of the Year and D2CCA Southeast Region Player of the Year in Breshay Johnson. Johnson was held to only seven points in last season's meeting. PBC Defensive Player of the Year Mylea McKenith also returns for the Bearcats. She torched the Lady Railsplitters for 27 points last year.

Last season, LMU led by as many as eleven points for most of the game before the Bearcats took advantage of 26 LMU turnovers to roar back and take a 65-64 lead midway through the fourth quarter. From that point, Rachel Griffith scored six points and Duggins hit a pair of free throws to help the Lady Railsplitters pull out the 71-67 win in the Tex Turner Arena. Shea Coker led LMU with 14 points, Duggins scored 11 and Rachel Griffith had 10 points. As mentioned earlier, McKenith led Lander with 27 points.

LMU is 2-3 all-time against the Bearcats, with both wins coming in the Krystal Evans era.

USC AIKEN – NOV. 11 AT 4:00 PM
USC Aiken posted a 14-15 record last season, but did reach the Peach Belt Tournament quarterfinals where they fell to Columbus State. The Pacers were hard-hit by losses to graduation, but have brought in nine newcomers this season. Four of the nine have previous college experience, but the overall roster features no seniors, three juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen so a key factor for this season is their youth.

The Pacers were picked sixth in the PBC preseason poll, and will open up on Friday against Carson-Newman immediately following LMU's game against Lander.

In their meeting last season, LMU held the Pacers to 29.5 percent shooting from the field as they took a 2-0 lead off a Sydnie Anderson jumper and never looked back in a 78-51 win in Harrogate. Megan Pittman led LMU with 17 points and Sydney Duggins had an impressive debut as she had ten points in her first appearance in the Blue and Gray.

LMU is 2-3 all-time against the Pacers. The teams went 1-1 in the 1990-91 season and did not play again until the SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge was started in 2014.

SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans begins her fourth season at LMU. She has a 59-32 overall record.

· Senior Shea Coker enters her senior season as the most experienced player on the roster, having played seen over 1,750 minutes of action during her career. She is the program's all-time leader in career three-point percentage and ranks tenth in made treys.

· Karsen Sims, like her distant relative Abraham Lincoln, is the commander-in-chief on the floor as she started every game last season at the point position and was one of the leaders in the SAC in assist-to-turnover ratio.

· Sydney Duggins was named to the SAC All-Freshman team last season. She is one of the top returning scorers by percentage and the top returning rebounder from last year's team.

· LMU opens their 76th season of competition in Friday's game vs. Lander. They are 848-485-1 all-time.and 688-459 in the program's modern era (1974-present)

RECORD WATCH
· POINTS – Shea Coker currently has 816 points and ranks 29th in the career scoring ranks, trailing Heather Benton (2004-08) by 12.

· FIELD GOALS – Coker ranks at 27th on the made field goals list with 316. She trails Benton on this list by seven field goals. She also ranks 15th in career field goal percentage, hitting 47.8 percent of her field goals.

· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is 10th in made treys with 92 and trails ninth-place Chasity Williams (2002-05) by three. Coker is also tied for 14th on the three-point attempts list with Amanda Jackson (1997-2001) as each have 214, and is first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .430 percentage. Ross Mathis is 12th in made treys with 82 and trails #11 Katrina Ottesen (2013-15) by seven. She is 12th on the attempts list with 236 and 11th  on the percentage list with 34.7%. Also ranked in the top 50 on the made three-pointer list are Karsen Sims (tied for 30th) and Sydney Duggins (45th). Rachel Griffith is currently tied for 51st place.

· ASSISTS – Ross Mathis ranks 41st in career assists with 132 and trails Kelsey Bradford (2011-13) by one and both Kiara Rawls (2014-16) and Lesia Chadwell (1979-80) by two. Karsen Sims is 54th on the list with 115 assists, trailing Karmella Wynne (2001-04) by one and Kim Hopkins (1985-87), Robin Adams (1987-90) and Megan Pittman (2014-17) by five.