HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 11 Lady Railsplitters punched their ticket to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament semifinals in style with the 84-57 win over Queens Wednesday evening.

This is the second straight season that LMU has made it to the SAC Tournament Semifinals, and their first as the top seed in the tournament.

Emily Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) led the team in scoring with a career-high 18 points as she was perfect for the evening, going 7-of-7 from the field, 2-of-2 from three-point range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.), who became LMU's first CoSIDA Academic All-American earlier in the day, nearly had a school-record 33rd career double-double as she finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) had 12 points, including five three-pointers and Ross Mathis (Greer, S.C.) chipped in 11 points.

Queens' Maggie Stewart led the Royals with 22 points, and McKell Oliverio added in 11 points. It was the final game for both seniors. Oliverio was also named Queens' first CoSIDA Academic All-American in basketball earlier in the day as well. She and Pittman were the only women's basketball players from the Southeast Region to make the team.

The main difference in the game was LMU's defense, which caused 23 turnovers. The Lady Railsplitters also out-rebounded the Royals by a 40-27 margin. For the game, LMU out-shot Queens 50.0%-to-45.8% from the field, but the Royals bested LMU 50.0%-to-48.1& from three-point range and 52.9-to-43.8% from the free throw line.

Much like the previous meeting between the two schools in Harrogate on Feb. 18, LMU opened the game on a big run, this time 16-3. Queens would cut it two twelve on two occasions but finished the opening quarter down 27-10.

The second quarter saw the Lady Railsplitters extend the lead to as much as 24 and they led at the half by a 52-28 margin.

Both sides struggled to sink shots in the third quarter, as long droughts meant only 19 total points were scored in the quarter, with LMU outscoring Queens 11-8 for the period.

Both teams battled to a 20-20 draw in the fourth quarter, but LMU Head Coach Krystal Evans took advantage of the opportunity to get her younger players some tournament experience as they held off a late 9-0 rally by the Royals to win 84-57.

The win improves LMU's record to 25-3. LMU, the SAC Regular Season Champions, will next face Carson-Newman in the SAC Tournament semifinals at noon in Timmons Arena on the Furman University campus in Greenville, S.C.