HARROGATE, Tenn. – The LMU women's basketball team wraps up a three-game road swing this Saturday when they travel to Salisbury, North Carolina to face the Catawba Indians in a South Atlantic Conference match-up.

LMU enters the game at 10-6 overall on the season and 6-4 in SAC play. They had a five game winning streak snapped at Carson-Newman Wednesday evening.

In Wednesday's game, LMU went toe to toe with the ninth-ranked team in the nation for all but three minutes in the second quarter, and those three minutes proved to be the difference as the Lady Eagles turned a six point LMU lead into a 12 point LMU deficit that the Lady Railsplitters were unable to overcome. Shea Coker led the way for the Blue and Gray with 23 points, while Ross Mathis came close to a new career high in scoring with 21 points, including seven three-pointers, which tied her old record and is the second-best in a game in program history. Rachel Griffith had a career-high 17 points and Jordan Brightwell chipped in 12 points. Emily Griffith tied her career high for rebounds with seven to lead LMU. Mathis did set a new career record in assists with eight.

LMU's Play4Kay game this year will be against Newberry on Feb. 3. For more information about the Play4Kay game or the Kay Yow Cancer Fund go to https://support.kayyow.com/team/149961.

Links to live stats and video of the game above or on www.lmurailsplitters.com. You can also hear the game on 91.3 WLMU locally or at www.913thegap.com.

SCOUTING CATAWBA
· The Catawba Indians enter the game with a 9-8 overall record and 7-3 record in SAC play. Their three losses have been at LMU, at Carson-Newman and against Newberry Thursday evening in Goodman Gym.

· Angie Morton is in her 15th season as the head of the Catawba Indians. Prior to that she spent seven seasons at Pfeiffer. Her record at Catawba is 233-186 and her overall record is 331-277.

· Terri Rogers is currently leading the team in both scoring and rounding with an average of 18.3 points and 7.9 rebounds a game. She also leads the SAC in points per game. Serena Brown leads the team in assists with 5.2 per game, is second in scoring with 10.6 points a game and is third in rebounding with 4.7 a game. Brown also ranks seconds in the SAC in assists. Mershauna Butler is second in rebounding with 5.4 boards a game.

· As a team, Catawba is averaging 63.3 points a game while giving up 63.5 points per game. They are also besting opponents on the boards by a margin of 3.2 rebounds a game. They rank fourth in the SAC in points per game allowed and fifth in assists per game and 3-point attempts per game.

SERIES HISTORY
· LMU's win back in December gave them the 12-11 lead in the series. The Lady Railsplitters are 3-8 in Salisbury but they have won eight of the last nine against the Indians, including going 6-1 in the Krystal Evans era.

· The last meeting between the two was on Dec. 2 in Harrogate. In that game, the teams were tied late in the second quarter before a layup and free throw by Qua Hines sparked a 14-3 run extending into the third quarter that broke open the game. A similar fourth quarter run sealed the 60-43 win. Hines led LMU with a career-high 11 points. She also pulled down three rebounds. The Griffith twins, Emily and Rachel, each chipped in 10 points apiece. Emily's came via a 5-12 shooting night from the field while Rachel only missed one shot all night; going 2-3 from the field, 2-2 from three-point range and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. Ross Mathis came off the bench to grab a career-high eight rebounds, which led the team. Serena Brown led Catawba with 12 points and five assists in addition to four rebounds. Terri Rogers chipped in eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

· In the last meeting in Salisbury, LMU sealed their first-ever SAC Championship as they cruised past Catawba 88-67 in Salisbury on Feb. 35, 2017. LMU went on a 10-2 run in the second quarter and never looked back in the win. Megan Pittman led LMU with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Rachel Griffith had 15 points while Shea Coker chipped in 13 points. Josey Harding almost had her fourth 20-rebound performance of the season as she pulled down 19 rebounds. The Lady Railsplitters held Catawba to 31.3 percent shooting from the field and 13.2 percent from three-point range while out-rebounding them 59-30.

SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fourth season at LMU. She has a 69-38 overall record.

· Shea Coker is currently leading the team in scoring (both two- and three-point), rebounding and steals; with a 14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and a 1.5 steals a game average. She currently leads the SAC in three-point percentage and is seventh in offensive rebounds and ninth in points per game.

 · Emily Griffith is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.4 points a game, and ranks fifth in the SAC in free throw percentage. She is also averaging 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals a game.

· Emily's twin sister Rachel is close behind at 10.1 points per game and leads the team lead in assists. She is also second in the SAC in three-point percentage with a 44.1 percent average.

· Cameryn DuBose is second on the team in rebounding, pulling down 4.3 a game, closely followed by Qua Hines with 3.7 per game.

· As a team, LMU leads in the SAC in offensive rebounds per game; is third in points per game, made three-pointers per game, three-point percentage, assists per game and rebound margin; fourth in made field goals and rebounds per game; and fifth in points and made free throws a game.

· LMU also ranks twelfth in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game, 21st in three-point percentage, 47th in turnovers forced, 51st in rebound margin, 57th in assists per game, 61st in scoring offense , and 71st in rebounds per game. Shea Coker is ranked in seven national categories, including fourth in three-point percentage. Emily Griffith and Qua Hines are ranked in free throw percentage.

RECORD WATCH
· POINTS –Shea Coker currently has 1,039 points and is in 18thh place in the all-time scoring list. She trails #17 Laura Winters (1988-92) by 26 points. There are several other players hovering around the 400-point mark, including three in a row; Ross Mathis has 418 and ranks 68th. Emily Griffith is tied for 69th with Ralissa Nelson (2011-13) while Karsen Sims has 416 and is 71st, Rachel Griffith is not far behind at 77th with 381 career points.

· FIELD GOALS – Coker is currently 18th on the made field goals list with 402. She trails former teammate Megan Pittman (2014-17) by one and Hillary Ross (2000-04) by four. (By the way, congratulations to Hillary on the birth of her daughter Wednesday morning.) Coker also ranks 15th in career field goal percentage, hitting 48.0 percent of her field goals.

· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is now ranked fifth in made treys with 122. Ross Mathis on Wednesday evening became the tenth Lady Railsplitter to hit over 100 career treys and at the moment is tied for eighth with Stephanie Wagner (2007-09) with 105. Coker trails fourth place Karra Jackson (1998-02) by 41 while Mathis trails seventh place Kara Harris (2007-09) by nine. In attempts, Mathis is seventh on the list with 312, while Coker is ninth with 273.  Mathis trails sixth-place Kara Harris by 11. Coker is first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .447 percentage. Mathis is 11th on the percentage list with 33.7%. Also ranked in the top 50 on the made three-pointer list are Karsen Sims (23rd) Rachel Griffith (24th) and Sydney Duggins (40th).

· REBOUNDS – Shea Coker has cracked the top 50 in rebounds and is tied with former teammate Kiara Rawls (2014-16) at 47th place with 113.

· ASSISTS – Ross Mathis is 27th in career assists with 164 (along with Tammy Shelton (1992-94)) and trails Jill Cox (1985-86, 1987-88) by one and former teammate Britney Guy (2012-16) by three. Karsen Sims is tied for 38th on the list with 137 assists with Bridget Long (1990-94) and trails Kara Harris (2007-09) by one. Shea Coker is in 50th place with 122.

· STEALS – People must have to lock up their basketballs in Oliver Springs as both of the Griffiths are creeping up the all-time steals list. Rachel is currently in 51st place with 70 while Emily trails her sister by four steals and five places. Teammate Ross Mathis has moved past Emily to claim 54th place. Rachel needs just two steals to tie #48 Candice Rose (2003-06), Natasha Davis (1996-00) and Jamie Russell (1986-88) while Emily needs one steal to tie #55 Destiny Williams (2009-11)  while Ross needs one to tie former teammate Josey Harding (2013-17) at 53rd.