HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 8/9 Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team closes out the regular season at Catawba and looks for at least a share of their first-ever South Atlantic Conference Championship Saturday afternoon. LMU defeated the Indians 70-66 on Jan. 14.

LMU is currently 23-3 overall and 18-3 in SAC play coming into the game. They are currently ranked eighth in the latest D2SIDA National Media Poll and ninth in the WBCA/USA Today NCAA Division II Coaches Poll.

Currently, LMU is tied atop the SAC standings with their 18-3 SAC record with Wingate and Anderson. The 18 SAC wins by LMU are a new program record for conference wins. Anderson is in third with a 17-4 record. Wingate plays at Anderson Saturday. With an LMU win and a Wingate loss, LMU wins the out-right SAC Championship and are the top seed in next week's SAC Championship. If LMU and Wingate both win, they are Co-champions and Wingate will be the top seed due to a coin toss. Should both LMU and Wingate lose, there will be three co-champions for the SAC title this season.

In their last game vs. Anderson, the Trojans used a second quarter run to pull out to a 46-32 lead at the half. LMU made a comeback in the third and fourth quarters to cut the lead to 74-72 with less than a minute left, but were unable to claim the lead as Anderson won 76-73.

Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) led LMU with her eighth double-double of the season as she had 18 points and 18 rebounds. Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It was her 13th double-double of the season and the 31st of her career. Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) chipped in 12 points.

Saturday's game will be streamed by Catawba and CC 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. CATAWBA
· LMU won the prior meeting this season, 70-66 in Harrogate.
· In the last meeting in the Turner Arena, the Indians and Lady Railsplitters went nip-and-tuck for most of the game, with 10 ties and 22 lead changes in the game. Catawba held the 57-56 lead with 8:39 remaining before LMU put together a 9-1 run and held off a late rally for the 70-66 win.
· Catawba comes into the game tied for sixth place in the SAC with Lenoir-Rhyne. They have a 15-11 overall record and a 12-9 record in SAC play. They trail Newberry by one game.
· After this game, the Lady Railsplitters will host a SAC Tournament Quarterfinal game Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. Just who the opponent is will be determined Saturday.
 
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Senior All-SAC performer and CoSIDA Academic All-District team member Megan Pittman leads the team in scoring with an average of 15.6 points a game. She is second on the team in rebounding with 9.7 a game. Pittman is currently shooting 81.7% from the free throw line, which ranks her fourth in the SAC.  She leads the SAC in total free throws and offensive rebounds; is third in total rebounds and rebounds per game; fourth in defensive rebounding; fifth in points, sixth in points per game and steals; seventh in three-point percentage; eighth in field goals; and tenth in blocks.
· Junior Shea Coker is second on the team in scoring with a 13.2 points per game average. She currently is second in the SAC in 3-pt percentage; eighth in made three-pointers; and eleventh in points, field goals and field goal percentage and points per game.
· Senior Josey Harding currently leads the team and the SAC in rebounding and rebounds per game with 10.5 rebounds a game (Pittman is third) and is fourth on the team in scoring with 8.1 points a game. She also currently ranks second in the SAC in offensive and defensive rebounds; and is seventh in free throws. She is also 13th in free throw percentage. 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 8.3 points a game. She currently is third in the SAC in 3-pt. percentage, leads the SAC in assist to turnover ratio and is 12th in assists.
· As a team, LMU ranks first in the SAC in 3-pt. percentage, all free throw categories, offensive rebounds per game and total rebounds per game. They rank second in made three-pointers, rebound margin per game, FGs made, FG attempts, points and points per game. They are third in defensive rebounds.
· LMU is outshooting their opponents 41.3 percent to 37.9 percent this season. They are outscoring their opponents by a 15.0 points per game margin.
· The Lady Railsplitters are currently out-rebounding opponents by 10.0 rebounds a game. In the Krystal Evans era, LMU has outrebounded their opponents in 72 of the 84 games played.
· LMU enters the game with a program record of 843-483-1 in 75 seasons of competition.
 
LMU IN THE RANKINGS
· The Lady Railsplitters are ranked ninth in the latest WBCA/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll.      
· The team is tied for eighth in the D2SIDA National Media Poll.
· The fourth-place ranking earlier this season was the highest any SAC team has been ranked in the media poll, which was started in 2014 and ties the highest ranking by a SAC team in conference history. The other team? Former SAC member Presbyterian, who was ranked fourth in the coaches' poll for two weeks in February, 2000.
· The fifth-place coaches' poll ranking earlier this season ties the highest ranking by a current SAC team in the coaches' poll with Tusculum, who were ranked fifth the week of Jan. 13, 3009.
· LMU is ranked second in the Southeast Region in both the latest NCAA Regional Rankings and the D2SIDA Media Poll.
 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS - Megan Pittman currently has 1040 career points, moving her up to 17th place in the all-time standings. She became the 18th member of the LMU 1,000 point club at Newberry on Feb. 11. She trails #16 Laura Winters (1988-92) by 25 points. Coker has 729, Harding has 701, Anderson 356, Mathis 290, Sims 277, Rachel Griffith 170 and twin Emily Griffith 169.
· REBOUNDS - Pittman has 784 career rebounds, and now is in third place in the LMU record book. She is 75 rebounds behind second-place Lori Neely (1985-89).
· Harding currently has 752 rebounds and ranks fourth in career rebounds. She is trails #3 Pittman by 32. She has become the fourth player in school history to have 750 rebounds and by moving into the top five there are now two of the top five rebounders in program history on the same team.
· FIELD GOALS – Pittman is in 19th place on the made field goals list with 379. She is five behind #19 Andi Winney (2006-09). She is also now 21st on the attempts list with 800 and is 13 behind Sis Lawhead (1980-82). Pittman is also 15^th in field goal percentage with a 47.4% career mark.
· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is 11th in made treys with 84 and trails former teammate #10 Katrina Ottesen (2013-15) by five. Coker is also 17th on the three-point attempts list with 199, and first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .422 percentage. Mathis is 14th in made treys with 73 and trails #13 Leah Moore (2002-04) and Ralissa Nelson (2011-13) by one and Coker by 11. She is 15th on the attempts list with 208 and tenth on the percentage list with 35.1%.
· FREE THROWS – Pittman is now 13th all-time in made free throws with 248. She is in 18th place in free throw attempts with 304, which translates to third place in career free throw percentage (81.6%).
· Harding has passed Pittman to jump to 12th all-time in made free throws (248) and trails All-Americans Debbie Green (1988-91) and Terry Whitehead (1984-86) by one. She is 9th in free throw attempts (363).
· BLOCKS - Harding is currently in fifth place on the all-time blocks list with 105. 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 49 blocks. Pittman is two behind 15^th place Pam Walters (1989-93).
· DOUBLE-DOUBLES - Pittman also has 31 career double-doubles, one shy of Hillary Ross' (2000-04) school record 32.
 
LAST TIME VS. CATAWBA
· In the last meeting in the Turner Arena, the Indians and Lady Railsplitters went nip-and-tuck for most of the game, with 10 ties and 22 lead changes in the game. Catawba held the 57-56 lead with 8:39 remaining before LMU put together a 9-1 run and held off a late rally for the 70-66 win.
· In that meeting Megan Pittman led LMU with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Josey Harding also had 10 rebounds. Shea Coker added in 16 points and Karsen Sims 12.
 
SERIES VS. CATAWBA
· Catawba leads the series 11-10.
· LMU holds an 8-3 record vs. Catawba in Harrogate and a 2-8 record in Salisbury.
 
SCOUTING CATAWBA
· Catawba comes into Saturday's game with a 15-11 overall record and 12-9 SAC record. They lost to Wingate on Wednesday.
· Terri Rogers leads the team in scoring with 17.2 points a game, followed closely by Bri Johnson with 17.0 ppg. Serena Brown is averaging 10.4 points a game.
· Rogers leads the team in rebounding with 8.7 per game, followed by Marshauna Butler with 6.5.