HARROGATE, Tenn. – The No. 13/20 and third-seeded Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team opens play Friday at noon against sixth-seeded Clayton State in a place they have only been in once before – the NCAA Tournament. LMU begins their journey to Columbus, Ohio, from Columbus, Georgia hoping for a six game winning streak ending in the first national championship in school history.

LMU is currently 26-4 overall. They are currently ranked 13th in the WBCA/USA Today NCAA Division II Coaches Poll and 20th in the final D2SIDA National Media 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.

LMU earned a three-seed in this year's regional, which is the highest seed in program history. They enter the tournament courtesy of an at-large bid.

Friday's game will be streamed by Columbus State and the NCAA 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 on the LMU Sports Network at 91.3 WLMU-FM and online at www.913thegap.com.
 
LINCOLN MEMORIAL VS. CLAYTON STATE
· The teams have not met since the 2010-11 season, when LMU played in a tournament at Clayton State.
· Clayton State finished second to Columbus State in the Peach Belt Conference West Division and had a 15-4 record in conference play.
· Clayton State has a 24-6 record entering Friday's 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 for her efforts.
· Senior SAC Player of the Year and CoSIDA Academic All-American Megan Pittman leads the team in scoring with an average of 15.0 points a game. She is second on the team in rebounding with 9.5 a game. Pittman is currently shooting 80.7% from the free throw line.
· Junior All-SAC Second Team member Shea Coker is second on the team in scoring with a 13.1 points per game average.
· Senior All-SAC Honorable Mention Josey Harding currently leads the team and led the SAC in rebounding and rebounds per game with 11.1 rebounds a game and is third on the team in scoring with 8.6 points a game. 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.
· LMU is outshooting their opponents 41.6 percent to 38.3 percent this season. They are outscoring their opponents by a 14.1 points per game margin.
· The Lady Railsplitters are currently out-rebounding opponents by 10.3 rebounds a game. In the Krystal Evans era, LMU has outrebounded their opponents in 75 of the 88 games played.
· LMU enters the game with a program record of 846-484-1 in 75 seasons of competition.
 
LMU IN THE RANKINGS
· The Lady Railsplitters are ranked 13th in the latest WBCA/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' Poll.       
· The team is ranked 20th 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.
 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS - Megan Pittman currently has 1084 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 779, Harding has 740, Anderson 356, Mathis 316, Sims 311, Rachel Griffith 199 and twin Emily Griffith 204.
· REBOUNDS - Pittman has become the third player in LMU history to pass the 800 rebound mark, she now has 816 career rebounds, and is in third place in the LMU record book. She is 43 rebounds behind second-place Lori Neely (1985-89).
· Harding currently has 800 rebounds and ranks fourth in career rebounds. She is trails #3 Pittman by 16. She has become the fourth player in school history to have 800 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 18th place on the made field goals list with 393. She is tied with Sis Lawhead (1980-82) and needs eight to pass Bridget Long (1990-94). She is also now 20th on the attempts list with 828 and is three behind #19 Heather Brown (1993-97). Pittman is also 16^th in field goal percentage with a 47.5% career mark, just behind Shea Coker's 47.6%.
· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is 11th in made treys with 88 and trails former teammate #10 Katrina Ottesen (2013-15) by one. Coker is also 16th on the three-point attempts list with 206, and first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .427 percentage. Mathis is 12th in made treys with 80 and trails #11 Coker by eight. She is 13th on the attempts list with 227 and tenth on the percentage list with 35.2%.
· FREE THROWS – Pittman is now tied for tenth all-time in made free throws with 259 with Jennifer Childs (1999-03). 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 ninth all-time in made free throws (266) and trails #8 Marcie Stout (1981-85) by 14. She is 7th in free throw attempts (394).
· 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. CLAYTON STATE
· In the last meeting, Clayton State grabbed the lead with 3:26 left in the first half and extended it in the second to hold on for the 64-55 win in the Laker Classic on Dec. 29, 2010.
· Patrice Talley led the way for LMU with 16 points and Carrie Ann Harris had 13.
 
SERIES VS. CLAYTON STATE
· CSU leads the series 2-1.
· The teams have never met in Harrogate. LMU has played at Clayton State and the other two meetings have been in Jefferson City, TN and Boiling Springs, NC. All the meetings have been in tournaments.
 
SCOUTING CLAYTON STATE
· The Lakers are averaging 69.9 points a game and are outscoring their opponents by 4.9 points a game. They have been out-rebounded on the season by an average of 2.9 rebounds a game.
· Tierra Johnson leads the team with 16.8 points a game.
· Andrea Benford is second on the team in scoring with 13.2 a game and leads the team in rebounding with 7.1 a game.
· The Lakers are fourth in the PBC in scoring offense and seventh in scoring defense.