HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team returns home to open up the new year with a pair of South Atlantic Conference contests. First up is Anderson University Wednesday evening in the Tex Turner Arena.

LMU enters the game at 7-5 overall on the season and 3-3 in the SAC after using a dominating second half, and third quarter in particular, to defeat Lenoir-Rhyne 72-58 Saturday afternoon. LMU trailed L-R (8-6, 2-4 SAC) by two points at the half and had a 24-11 deficit in rebounding. They out-rebounded the Bears 28-14 in the final two quarters to hold a 39-38 advantage in that statistic at the end of the game. Partly due to the rebounding, LMU also held a 16-6 advantage in second-chance points and a 30-16 advantage in points scored in the paint.

Qua Hines led LMU for the second consecutive contest, this time finishing one shy of her career high with 15 points. Hines went 8-8 at the free throw line, tying Megan Pittman's 8-8 vs. Wingate on Dec. 16, 2015 as the best free throw shooting performance, percentage-wise, of the Krystal Evans era. For her efforts in this game and against Southern Indiana, Hines was named the Astroturf SAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week this week. Ross Mathis chipped in 11 points and Emily Griffith had nine points. Shermeria Quarles came off the bench to lead the Lady Railsplitters with nine rebounds, Hines had seven and Cameryn DuBose had six rebounds.

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 ANDERSON
· The Trojans are currently 9-4 overall and 3-2 in SAC play. The only common opponents played thus far are SAC games against Newberry, Lenoir-Rhyne and Catawba. AU defeated L-R 65-54 and Newberry 71-51 before falling at Catawba 63-46 in their last game before the Christmas break.

· Jonathon Barbaree is in his second year as head coach of the Trojans and his fourth season overall as a head coach. He has a 30-11 record at Anderson and a 54-46 overall record. Barbaree came to AU following a two-year stint at the College of Coastal Georgia. His replacement there was former LMU coach Roger Hodge, who came out of retirement to take the position.

· The Trojans return ten players from last season's 18-4 squad that finished tied for second in the SAC standings. The three letterwinners not back from last season were all starters.

· Ace Easter currently is leading the team in scoring, averaging 11.6 points a game. Alexis Dillard and Alexy Mollenhauer are close behind, averaging 11.4 and 11.2, respectively. Dillard also leads the team in rebounding with 9.2 boards a game. Madison Baggett is third in rebounding with 5.2 a game and leads the team in assists with 4.5 assists a game.

· As a team, Anderson is averaging 69.5 points a game while holding opponents to 54.7 points per game. They are also out-rebounding the competition by a 10.2 per-game margin on average and are out-shooting the competition 41.0 percent to 32.1 percent. They lead the SAC in defensive rebounds per game, rebounds per game, rebound margin, blocks and personal fouls per game. They also are third in scoring and fourth in assists per game and turnovers per game.

SERIES HISTORY
· AU leads the series 12-5. The Lady Railsplitters are 3-5 against the Trojans in Harrogate.

· The last meeting between the two on Feb. 22, 2017 in Harrogate. The Trojans used a big second quarter to surge out to the 46-32 lead at the half. The Lady Railsplitters fought back to cut the lead to four at the end of the third quarter but after cutting the lead to three late in the fourth LMU missed several chances to take the lead at the free throw line before cutting the lead to 74-73 with 38 seconds left. LMU fouled on the next possession and AU hit both to escape Tex Turner Arena with the 76-73 win. Megan Pittman and Josey Harding had double-doubles to lead LMU, with Pittman having 18 points and a like number of rebounds while Harding had 12 points and 10 rebounds, respectively. Alexy Mollenhauer led four AU Players in double figures with her 18 points. She also had 10 rebounds to lead the Trojans.

SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fourth season at LMU. She has a 66-37 overall record.

· Shea Coker is currently leading the team in scoring (both two- and three-point) and rebounding, with a 14.4 points and 5.2 rebounds a game average. She currently leads the SAC in three-point percentage and is sixth in offensive rebounds, seventh in made field goals and ninth in scoring, points per game and made three-pointers.

 · Emily Griffith is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.3 points a game. Her twin sister Rachel is close behind at 9.5 per game. Cameryn DuBose is second on the team in rebounding, pulling down 4.2 a game, closely followed by Shermaria Quarles and Qua Hines with 3.7 each.

· As a team, LMU ranks second in the SAC in offensive rebounds per game, third in rebound margin and three-point percentage, fourth in rebounds per game, total rebounds and points per game. They rank fifth in made free throws, assists per game and steals per game.

· LMU also ranks ninth in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game, 31st in rebounds per game, 61st in total rebounds and 74th in turnovers forced. Shea Coker is ranked in seven national categories, including third in the nation in three-point percentage. Emily Griffith and Qua Hines are ranked in free throw percentage.

RECORD WATCH
· POINTS –Shea Coker is on the cusp of joining the 1,000 point club as she currently has 974 points. Coker would be the 19th Lady Railsplitter to score 1,000 or more points in their career. There have only been two players to date since the end of the Roger Vannoy era in 2007 to break the 1,000 point mark – Dayshalee Salaman scored 1,825 from 2008-12 and former teammate Megan Pittman scored 1,108 from 2014-17. Shea is currently tied for 20th in the career scoring ranks with Jennifer Childs (1999-03), trailing 19th place Monica Owens (1986-90) by eight points.

· FIELD GOALS – Coker ranks 21st on the made field goals list with 378. She trails Andi Winney (2006-09) on this list by six field goals. She also ranks 15th in career field goal percentage, hitting 48.2 percent of her field goals.

· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is tied for sixth in made treys with Kara Harris (2007-09) with 114 and is the ninth Lady Railsplitter with 100 or more career three-pointers. She trails fifth place Heather Brown (1993-97) by two. Coker is also ninth on the three-point attempts list with 257, and is first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .444 percentage. Ross Mathis is 11th in made treys with 91 and trails #10 Chasity Williams (2002-06) by four. She is 8th on the attempts list with 278 and ranks 13th on the percentage list with 32.7%. Also ranked in the top 50 on the made three-pointer list are Karsen Sims (23rd) Rachel Griffith (35th) and Sydney Duggins (40th).

· ASSISTS – Ross Mathis is tied for 31st in career assists with 147 with Rhonda Moyers (1982-84) and Sara Wood (1998-02). She trails Jennifer Childs by one and Hillary Ross (2000-04) 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.