COLUMBUS, Ga. – The No. 13/20 and third-seeded LMU women's basketball team came out on fire and put away sixth-seeded Clayton State early as they coasted to the 87-58 win Friday afternoon in the NCAA Southeast Regional quarterfinals.

The win is the first for LMU in the NCAA Tournament and improves their record to 27-4 on the season, tying for the second-most wins in a season in program history.

Three players tied or set new career highs in the game. Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) led LMU with a career-high 19 points. Emily Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) tied her career-high with 18 points and 10 assists while Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) chipped in 12 points. Rachel Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) had 11 points and Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) had her 11th double-double of the season (and 18th of her career) with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Shermeria Quarles (Greenwood, S.C.) had a career high nine points off the bench. Ross Mathis (Greer, S.C.) had a career-high five steals.

Andrea Benford led the Lakers with 21 points.

For the game, LMU out-shot the Lakers 53.1%-to-37.7% from the field, both teams went 25% from three point range and LMU had the 75.0%-to-44.4% advantage from the charity stripe. LMU out-rebounded the Lakers 44-31, had a 14-4 advantage in fast break points, had 32 points in the paint to Clayton State's 16 and had 25 total assists, a season high.

LMU opened up the game on an 8-0 run. Clayton State cut it to 11-7 before a Coker trey put the lead back up to 7 with five minutes remaining. After a CSU score, a pick-two steal and layup by Emily Griffith made the lead 16-9 with three minutes left. The Lakers would cut the lead to 16-12 before Mathis found Emily Griffith open for the jumper from the free throw line. The Lady Railsplitters would lead 19-12 at the end of the first quarter.

After trading threes to start the second quarter, LMU grabbed the nine point 24-15 lead off a pair of Emily Griffith free throws. Clayton State would make a small run, but LMU would extend the lead to 30-20 with a little under five minutes left. LMU would go up by 14, only to see the Lakers cut it to nine before LMU went on a 5-0 run. CSU would cut it to ten before LMU went on a late 5-0 to make it 44-29 at the half.

The teams traded baskets for most of the third quarter before back to back baskets by Emily Griffith and Sims pushed the lead to 52-33 with six minutes remaining. After the media timeout, baskets by Coker and Sims and a free throw by Harding extended the lead to 57-35. The Lakers then began trying to push the tempo and shoot their way back into the game, but missed shots and foul trouble did not help their cause as they had a scoring drought of over 5:30 in the quarter. At the end of the third stanza, LMU led 59-38.

The Lady Railsplitters would extend the lead to as much as 26 in the fourth quarter and Coach Evans used the opportunity to rest her starters. Clayton State would cut it back to 20 but LMU would hold on for the 87-58 win.

LMU advances to the regional quarterfinal for the first time in school history, where they will face the winner of the King/Wingate game Saturday at 5 p.m.