HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 5/8 Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team is seeking their 21st win of the season as they host Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference action Wednesday evening. LMU defeated the Pioneers 83-71 on Jan. 18.

LMU is currently 20-1 overall and 15-1 in SAC play coming into the game. They are currently ranked fifth in the latest D2SIDA National Media Poll and eighth in the WBCA/USA Today NCAA Division II Coaches Poll.

Currently, LMU sits atop the SAC standings with their 15-1 SAC record. Wingate is in second with a 13-3 records. Anderson and Carson-Newman are tied for third with 12-4 records.

In their last game vs. Wingate, the game literally came down to who had the ball last. That turned out to be Wingate, and Amber Neely threw up a desperation shot that rolled in and gave the Bulldogs the 71-69 win.

Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) had her 12^th double-double of the season as she scored 17 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) had 14 points while Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) scored 12 points.

Wednesday's game will be streamed by the LMU Sports Network and LMU 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. TUSCULUM
· LMU won the prior meeting this season, 83-71 in Greeneville.
· In the last meeting in the Tex Turner Arena, LMU took an early 7-4 lead and never looked back as they rolled out to the 72-57 victory. Shea Coker and Britney Guy led LMU with 16 each. Ross Mathis chipped in 12 points. Shynese Whitener led TC with 21 points and Kasey Johnson added in 15.
· Tusculum comes into the game in a three-way tie for eighth place in the SAC with a 5-15 overall record and a 4-12 record in SAC play.
· After this game, the Lady Railsplitters will travel to Newberry for a Saturday afternoon meeting with the Wolves. Newberry is currently 8-8 in SAC play and is at Catawba Wednesday evening.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Senior All-SAC performer Megan Pittman leads the team in scoring with an average of 16.4 points a game. She is second on the team in rebounding with 10.4 a game. Pittman is currently shooting 82.1% from the free throw line, which ranks her fifth in the SAC.  She now leads the SAC in total free throws and offensive rebounds and rebounds per game and is second in total rebounds, third in all defensive rebounding, fourth in points, fifth in steals and ninth in blocks.
· Junior Shea Coker is second on the team in scoring with a 13.9 points per game average. She currently is second in the SAC in 3-pt percentage, seventh in made three-pointers, eighth in field goal percentage, tenth in made field goals, eleventh in points and twelfth in points per game.
· Senior Josey Harding currently leads the team and the SAC in rebounding and rebounds per game with 11.0 rebounds a game (Pittman is second) and is fourth on the team in scoring with 7.8 points a game. She also currently ranks second in the SAC in defensive rebounds, third in offensive rebounds and fifth 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 8.9 points a game. She currently is third in the SAC in 3-pt. percentage (just behind Shea Coker), fourth in assist to turnover ratio and is 12th in assists.
· Rachel Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) ranks 15th 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, all free throw categories, 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 41.3 percent to 38.1 percent this season. They are outscoring their opponents by a 15.0 points per game margin.
· LMU is ranked fourth in the nation in rebound margin and offensive rebounds, fifth in three-point field goal percentage and ninth in rebounds per game. They are 18th in scoring margin and 15th in scoring offense.
· The Lady Railsplitters are currently out-rebounding opponents by 11.4 rebounds a game. In the Krystal Evans era, LMU has outrebounded their opponents in 68 of the 79 games played.
· LMU enters the game with a program record of 840-481-1 in 75 seasons of competition.
 
LMU IN THE RANKINGS
· The Lady Railsplitters are ranked eighth in the latest WBCA/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll.   
· The team is ranked fifth in the D2SIDA National Media Poll.
· The fourth-place ranking last week 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 last week 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 also ranked first in the Southeast Region in the latest D2SIDA Media Poll, with 58 total points and five of the six first place votes.
 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS - Megan Pittman currently has 980 career points, moving her up to 19th. She trails #18 Monica Owens (1986-90) by two points. Should she reach 1,000 she will be the 18^th member of the 1,000 point club. Coker has 676, Harding has 655, Anderson 345, Mathis 258 and Sims 248.
· REBOUNDS - Pittman has 751 career rebounds, and now is in third place in the LMU record book. She is 108 rebounds behind second-place Lori Neely (1985-89).
· Harding currently has 708 rebounds and ranks sixth in career rebounds. She is one behind #5 Brandy Brown (1994-98) and trails Pittman by 42. She has become the sixth player in school history to have 700 rebounds and if she passes Brown to take fifth place you would have two of the top five rebounders in program history on the same team.
· FIELD GOALS – Pittman has moved into 22^nd place on the made field goals list with 357. She is six behind #21 Karra Jackson (1998-02). She is also now 24th on the attempts list with 746 and is 16 behind Laura Winters (1988-92).
· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is eleventh in made treys with 79 and trails former teammate #10 Katrina Ottesen (2013-15) by 10. Coker is also 17th on the three-point attempts list with 181, and first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .436 percentage. Mathis is 17th in made treys with 65 and trails #16 Mollie Cooper (1994-97) by three. She is 16th on the attempts list with 189.
· FREE THROWS - Harding is 14th all-time in made free throws (239) and trails #13 Carrie Shoffner (1985-89) by four. She is 11th in free throw attempts (340) and is one behind Robin Cox (1992-96).
· Pittman is now 15th all-time in made free throws with 237. She is two behind Josey Harding. She is in 19th place in free throw attempts with 290, which translates to third place in career free throw percentage (81.7%).
· BLOCKS - Harding is currently in fifth place on the all-time blocks list with 102. 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 47 blocks. Pittman is three behind 15^th place Pam Walters (1989-93).
 
LAST TIME VS. TUSCULUM
· The teams met in Tusculum on Jan. 18, The teams traded the lead with neither being able to pull away until late in the third quarter when LMU took advantage of some TC turnovers to build up a five point lead. They then extended that lead to as much as 16 in the fourth quarter and pulled out the 83-71 win.
· In that meeting Megan Pittman had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Shea Coker had 19 points, Karsen Sims chipped in 15 points while Sydnie Anderson (Cleveland, Tenn.) had 11. Josey Harding also had 15 rebounds. Kasey Johnson led TC with 28 points and Benedicta Makakala had 11.
 
SERIES VS. TUSCULUM
· This is the second longest series in program history, with this being the 70th meeting in the series. LMU leads the series 41-28. The two teams have been in a conference together for most of the 39 year history of the series, and as conference opponents LMU leads 22-21.
· LMU holds a 23-11 record vs. TC in Harrogate (14-7 in the Tex Turner Arena) and an 18-17 record in Greeneville.
 
SCOUTING TUSCULUM
· Tusculum enters the game as ranked first in the SAC in made steals per game with 9.7, sixth in blocks per game and seventh in field goal attempts per game, three-pointer made and attempts per game. They are eighth in free throws made per game, free throw attempts per game and free throw percentage.
· Kasey Johnson leads the team in scoring with 15.2 points per game and ranks seventh in the SAC in that category. She also is fifth in blocks and eighth in rebounds per game.
· Johnson also leads the team in rebounding with 6.9 per game.
· The Pioneers' big win thus far this season was a 65-51 shellacking of Anderson on Feb. 1.