HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 11/24 Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team is in the midst of a season of historical firsts, but this first is truly uncharted territory for the program – first South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship game. LMU will face Wingate Sunday at 1:00 pm with the Tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

Wingate is one of only three teams to defeat the Lady Railsplitters this season, and the only one still standing in the SAC Tournament.

LMU is currently 26-3 overall. 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 semifinal round game vs. Carson-Newman, the two teams traded baskets (and scoring droughts) for much of the game, but LMU grabbed the lead for good in the second quarter and held for the 72-67 win. It was their third win this season over the Eagles and ends their season.

Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) with a career high 18 points. Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) had her ninth double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) added in 14 points and Dasia Maxwell (Knoxville, Tenn.) had three blocks.

Sunday'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. WINGATE
· The teams split this season, with LMU winning 84-83 in double overtime in Wingate. The Bulldogs ended LMU's opening season winning streak 71-69 in Harrogate.
· Wingate used a late surge to get past Catawba 57-53 in Saturday's semifinal.
· Wingate has a 24-5 record entering Sunday's game.
· The last time the two teams met in the postseason was on Feb. 28, 2007 in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals. Wingate defeated LMU 91-54 in Coach Roger Vannoy's final game.
 
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 15.3 points a game. She is second on the team in rebounding with 9.7 a game. Pittman is currently shooting 80.7% from the free throw line, which ranks her seventh 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 and three-point percentage, sixth in points per game and steals; eighth 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 and 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 10.7 rebounds a game (Pittman is third) and is third on the team in scoring with 8.4 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 19th 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 fourth on the team in scoring with 8.3 points a game. She currently 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, 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 41.9 percent to 37.9 percent this season. They are outscoring their opponents by a 15.2 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 75 of the 87 games played.
· LMU enters the game with a program record of 846-483-1 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 1079 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 27 points. Coker has 768, Harding has 725, Anderson 356, Mathis 316, Sims 303, Rachel Griffith 194 and twin Emily Griffith 193.
· REBOUNDS - Pittman has become the third player in LMU history to pass the 800 rebound mark, she now has 813 career rebounds, and is in third place in the LMU record book. She is 46 rebounds behind second-place Lori Neely (1985-89).
· Harding currently has 784 rebounds and ranks fourth in career rebounds. She is trails #3 Pittman by 29. 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 391. She is two behind #18 Sis Lawhead (1980-82). She is also now 20th on the attempts list with 822 and is nine behind #19 Heather Brown (1993-97). Pittman is also 16^th in field goal percentage with a 47.6% career mark, just behind Shea Coker's 47.7%.
· 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 205, and first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .424 percentage. Mathis is 12th in made treys with 80 and trails #11 Coker by seven. She is 13th on the attempts list with 224 and ninth on the percentage list with 35.7%.
· FREE THROWS – Pittman is now tied for ninth all-time in made free throws with 259 with Josey Harding and Jennifer Childs (1999-03). She and Harding trail #8 Marcie Stout (1981-85) by 21. Pittman is in 15th place in free throw attempts with 319, which translates to fourth place in career free throw percentage (81.2%).
· Harding is tied for ninth all-time in made free throws (259) with Pittman and Jennifer Childs. She is 9th in free throw attempts (383).
· 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 51 blocks. Pittman is one 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. WINGATE
· In the last meeting, It was a tough battle for 39 minutes and 59 seconds, but the No. 4/5 Lady Railsplitters ended up just short as Amber Neely's shot fell in with less than a second left to give Wingate the 71-69 win and LMU their first loss of the season. Wingate built up a five-to-seven point cushion and held it for most of the second half until a late LMU run tied the game at 69-69 with 18 seconds left. Neely then took the inbounds pass, worked the clock down to less than three seconds, came off a screen and threw up a shot that rolled in and gave WU the upset victory.
· Megan Pittman led the way for LMU with her twelfth double-double of the season as she had 17 points and 15 rebounds. Josey Harding had her sixth double-double this year with her 15 point and 10 rebound performance. Shea Coker had 14 points while Karsen Sims scored 12 points.
 
SERIES VS. WINGATE
· WU leads the series 15-8.
· LMU holds a 5-6 record vs. the Bulldogs in Harrogate and a 3-9 record in Wingate. This is the first time the two teams have met on a neutral court.
 
SCOUTING WINGATE
· Wingate had one of the longest win streaks in the SAC this season, winning 11 games before losing to Anderson in the regular season finale.
· Marta Miscenko leads the team in scoring with 14.1 points a game and also leads the team in rebounding with 9.8 rebounds a game.
· Danasia Witherspoon is second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.8 points a game.
· The Bulldogs lead the SAC in rebound margin and are second in fouls per game, turnovers per game field goal percentage, free throw attempts, offensive rebounds per game and assists per game.