GREENVILLE, S.C. – After falling to #25 Anderson 69-51 in the SAC Tournament Semifinals last season, LMU Head Coach Krystal Evans closed her post-game press conference with the words "we'll be back." The No. 11/24 Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team has kept that promise and are back in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament Semifinals for the second straight season. This time with a loftier goal, win the SAC Tournament Championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. First up is a Saturday high noon semifinals meeting with Carson-Newman, a team that played LMU close in both meetings this season but fell short to the Lady Railsplitters on both occasions.

LMU is currently 25-3 overall and ended the regular season 19-3 in SAC play. They are currently ranked eighth in the latest D2SIDA National Media Poll and ninth in the WBCA/USA Today NCAA Division II Coaches Poll.

With their 19 SAC wins, LMU captured their first-ever South Atlantic Conference Championship in women's basketball. The 19 SAC wins by LMU are a new program record for conference wins and the second-most in SAC history. Anderson went 20-2 in the 2014-15 season.

In their quaterfinal round game vs. Queens, LMU opened the game on 16-3 run and never looked back as they coasted to the 84-57 win. After the run, the closest that the Royals would get is nine points and they would trail by as much as 36 before closing the game on a 9-0 run to cut the LMU lead to 27.

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.

Saturday's game will be streamed on ESPN3 and the South Atlantic Conference 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. C-N
· LMU won both meetings this season. They won 102-99 in overtime at Mossy Creek and 72-64 in Harrrogate.
· This is the first appearance in the SAC Tournament semifinals for Carson-Newman since the 2013-14 season. The Eagles knocked off Newberry 85-63 in the quarterfinal round.
· C-N has a 20-9 record entering Saturday's game.
· The winner of this game advances to play in the SAC Tournament Championship vs. the winner of Catawba and Wingate at 1 p.m. Sunday in Greenville, S.C. Wingate came from behind to defeat Lenoir-Rhyne 56046 on Wednesday while Catawba upset Anderson 70-64.
· The last time the two teams met in the postseason was on Feb. 24, 1990 in the opening round of the Tennessee Valley Athletic Conference Tournament. The game was played in LMU's Mars Gym and LMU won 86-78.
 
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is the first LMU coach in LMU's NCAA era to be named conference Coach of the Year. She was named the 2016-17 SAC Coach of the Year earlier this week.
· Senior SAC Player of the Year and CoSIDA Academic All-American 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 9.8 a game. Pittman is currently shooting 81.5% from the free throw line, which ranks her seventh in the SAC.  She leads the SAC in total free throws and offensive rebounds; is second in total rebounds and rebounds per game; fourth in defensive rebounding; fifth in points and three-point percentage, sixth in points per game and steals; seventh in field goals; and tenth in blocks.
· Junior All-SAC Second Team member 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; tenth in field goals; eleventh in field goal percentage, twelfth in points and 14th in points per game.
· Senior All-SAC Honorable Mention Josey Harding currently leads the team and the SAC in rebounding and rebounds per game with 10.9 rebounds a game (Pittman is second) 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 eighth in free throws. She is also 16th 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 8.0 points a game. She currently leads the SAC in assist to turnover ratio and is 13th in assists.
· As a team, LMU ranks first in the SAC in 3-pt. percentage, made and attempted free throws, offensive rebounds per game and total rebounds per game. They rank second in made three-pointers, defensive rebounds, rebound margin per game, FGs made, FG attempts, points and points per game.
· LMU is outshooting their opponents 41.7 percent to 37.9 percent this season. They are outscoring their opponents by a 15.6 points per game margin.
· The Lady Railsplitters are currently out-rebounding opponents by 10.8 rebounds a game. In the Krystal Evans era, LMU has outrebounded their opponents in 74 of the 86 games played.
· LMU enters the game with a program record of 845-483-1 in 75 seasons of competition.
 
LMU IN THE RANKINGS
· The Lady Railsplitters are ranked eleventh in the latest WBCA/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
· The team is ranked 24th 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 the latest NCAA Regional Rankings
 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS - Megan Pittman currently has 1073 career points, moving her up to 16th 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 #15 Bridget Long (1990-94) by 33 points. Coker has 754, Harding has 710, Anderson 356, Mathis 310, Sims 285, Rachel Griffith 192 and twin Emily Griffith 189.
· REBOUNDS - Pittman has become the third player in LMU history to pass the 800 rebound mark, she now has 805 career rebounds, and is in third place in the LMU record book. She is 54 rebounds behind second-place Lori Neely (1985-89).
· Harding currently has 771 rebounds and ranks fourth in career rebounds. She is trails #3 Pittman by 34. 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 390. She is three behind #18 Sis Lawhead (1980-82). She is also now 20th on the attempts list with 817 and is 14 behind #19 Heather Brown (1993-97). Pittman is also 15^th in field goal percentage with a 47.7% career mark.
· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is 11th in made treys with 87 and trails former teammate #10 Katrina Ottesen (2013-15) by two. Coker is also 16th on the three-point attempts list with 204, and first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .426 percentage. Mathis is 12th in made treys with 79 and trails #11 Coker by eight. She is 13th on the attempts list with 221 and ninth on the percentage list with 35.7%.
· FREE THROWS – Pittman is now tenth all-time in made free throws with 256 and trails #9 Jennifer Childs (1999-03) by three. She is in 16th place in free throw attempts with 314, which translates to third place in career free throw percentage (81.5%).
· Harding is 11th all-time in made free throws (254) and trails Pittman by one. She is 9th in free throw attempts (369).
· BLOCKS - Harding is currently in fifth place on the all-time blocks list with 108. She is the fifth player in LMU history to have 100 or more blocks.
· Pittman is also on the blocks list, where she is 15th with 50 blocks. Pittman is two behind 14th place Debbie Green (1988-91).
· DOUBLE-DOUBLES - Pittman also has 32 career double-doubles, tying her with Hillary Ross' (2000-04) school record 32.
 
LAST TIME VS. C-N
· In the last meeting, LMU grabbed the lead in the second quarter and never relinquished it in the 72-65 win over C-N in the Tex Turner Arena. After swapping leads several times up to that point, LMU went on a 15-4 run to close out the second quarter and LMU led 38-30 at the half. The Eagles would cut the lead to one, but LMU extended it back to four entering the fourth quarter. LMU would take a six point lead and then go half of the fourth quarter without scoring, but the Eagles were unable to take advantage as LMU hit their free throws down the stretch to claim the victory.
· In that meeting Megan Pittman led LMU with 23 points, one shy of her career high. She also had 10 rebounds. Dasia Maxwell had a career-high 12 points and a team-high three steals. Shea Coker added in 11 points while Josey Harding had a game high eleven rebounds.
 
SERIES VS. CARSON-NEWMAN
· C-N leads the series 48-43.
· LMU holds a 26-19 record vs. C-N in Harrogate and a 17-29 record in Jefferson City. This is the first time the two teams have met on a neutral court.
 
SCOUTING C-N
· Carson-Newman comes into Saturday's Semifinal game with a 20-9 record. It is the school's 18th 20-win season and their first since the 2009-10 season.
· All-SAC First Team member Mika Wester leads the team in scoring with 18.6 points per game. The Newport, Tennessee native also leads the team in rebounding.
· Kailyn Brooks is second on the team in scoring with 14.0 points a game and Briana Smith is third with a 10.9 points a game average.
· The Eagles lead the SAC in scoring, field goals, field goal attempts, field goal percentage, steals per game, assists per game and turnovers per game.