HARROGATE, Tenn. – The LMU women's basketball team will close out January on the road as they make the short trip to Mars Hill for a Wednesday evening South Atlantic Conference game.

LMU enters the game at 11-8 overall on the season and 7-6 in SAC play while Mars Hill is 1-19 overall and 0-12 in the conference.

In Saturday's 74-55 loss to Lenoir Rhyne, Rachel Griffith led LMU with 14 points. Emily Griffith had eight points, a team-high eight rebounds, four assists, and five steals. Shea Coker had eight points and four steals.

LMU's Play4Kay game this year will be this coming Saturday against Newberry. 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 MARS HILL
· Mars Hill is in one of those "perfect storm" scenarios in Coach Jenny Finora's second season. The combination of a small roster (12 players listed) with half of them being freshmen and injuries to two key players have resulted in a 1-19 record overall and a 0-12 record in SAC play.

· Jenny Finora is in her second season as the head coach of the Mars Hill Lions. Prior to that the former University of Kentucky point guard spent five seasons at Coker. Her record at Mars Hill is 8-40 and her overall record is 66-120.

· Sheena Johnson is leading the Lions in scoring average-wise with an average of 12.2 points per game. Shayla Smith and Maria Johnson are tied for second on the team with 10.4 points per game apiece. In total points scored, Johnson leads the team. Rebounding is in a similar state as Jazanae Billings is the team leader on the boards by average as she is pulling down 6.7 a game. By total rebounds, Maddie Webb is the team leader. Gabby Gianikos leads the team in both assists and steals.

· As a team, MHU is averaging 58.6 points a game while giving up 86.8 points per game for a scoring margin of -28.2. Rebounding is a similar story as they have a -12.7 margin in rebounds on the season. They are really good at the free throw line as their team percentage of 74.5 is third in the SAC. They are also eighth in three-pointers made a game in the SAC standings.

SERIES HISTORY
· LMU holds an 18-11 lead in the series. The Lady Railsplitters have won all of the last five meetings and are 10-4 against Mars Hill in Harrogate. In the Krystal Evans Era, LMU is 6-2, with both losses being in Stanford Arena.

· The last meeting between the two was on Dec. 11 in the Tex Turner Arena. LMU used an 11-1 lead to break open a tie game and never looked back in the 107-62 win. It marked the first time this season and only the third time in the Krystal Evans era that the Lady Railsplitters have surpassed the century mark.

Shea Coker led the way for the Lady Railsplitters with 16 points off of 7-12 shooting from the field and 2-4 shooting from three-point range. Kyndall Caudle had a career-high 11 points while Qua Hines tied her career high with 11 points as well. Emily Griffith also chipped in 11 points. Rachel Griffith and Karsen Sims each scored 10 points apiece. Hines and Shermeria Quarles both led LMU with six rebounds apiece, while Maggie Jachimczuk, Elizabeth Jones, Cameryn DuBose and Sydney Duggins each pulled down five boards.

LMU dominated in almost every statistical category as they hit an even 50 percent (38-76) from the field, 34.6 percent (9-26) from three-point range and 84.6 percent (22-26) from the free throw line. They had 54 rebounds to Mars Hill's 34 and their bench outscored the Lions' bench 60-18.

The Lions were led by Maria Johnson's 16 points while Tiffany Holloway led all players with seven rebounds. They hit a cold 28.3 percent (17-60) from the field for the game and a similar percentage (28.6) from three-point range.

· In the last meeting in Mars Hill, LMU gave longtime LMU statistician Bill Porter a nice birthday present as five players scored in double figures in a 91-63 rout at Mars Hill in Feb. 15, 2017. Dasia Maxwell exploded for a career-high 16 points, with Megan Pittman adding in 15 and Shea Coker scoring 14. Sydney Duggins also had a career night with 13 points while Josey Harding had another double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. LMU had one of their better performances from behind the arc, hitting 12 of 19 three –pointers.

Aliyah Farmer led the Lions with 19 points.

SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fourth season at LMU. She has a 70-40 overall record.

· Shea Coker leads the team in scoring (both two- and three-point) and rebounding and steals as she has a 13.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and a 1.7 steals a game average. She currently leads the SAC in three-point percentage and is seventh in offensive rebounds, eighth in made three-pointers, and tenth in points per game.

· Rachel Griffith is currently winning the "Battle of the Griffiths" as she currently claims second place on the team in scoring. She is averaging 10.7 points per game and leads the team lead in assists. She is also ninth in the SAC in both three-point and free throw percentage.

· Emily Griffith closely trails her sister in scoring, averaging 10.2 points a game, and ranks sixth in the SAC in free throw percentage. She is also averaging 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals a game.

· Qua Hines is averaging 7.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game

· Cameryn DuBose is tied for second on the team in rebounding with Emily Griffith as both are pulling down 3.8 a game.

· Ross Mathis is amongst the team leaders in three-point shooting as the senior guard has hit 29 on the season.

· 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, free throw percentage, total rebounds per game, assists per game, and steals per game; they are fourth in rebound margin; fifth in both made field goals per game and made free throws a game, and in total points.

· LMU also ranks ninth in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game, 38th in three-point percentage, 36th in turnovers forced, 50th in rebound margin, 55th in assists per game, 68th in rebounds per game, 71st in steals per game, 77th in total assists and scoring offense, and 79th in free throw percentage. Shea Coker is ranked in six national categories, while Emily Griffith is ranked in free throw percentage.

RECORD WATCH
· POINTS –Shea Coker currently has 1,061 points and is in 18th place in the all-time scoring list. She trails #17 Laura Winters (1988-92) by four points. There are several other players hovering around the 400-point mark; Emily Griffith is 67th with 444 points while Ross Mathis has 437 and ranks 68th. Griffith trails All-American Lakeshia Salters (1999-2000) by five points. Rachel Griffith has moved to 70th with 423 career points. Karsen Sims has 416 and is 73rd.

· FIELD GOALS – Coker is currently tied for 15th on the made field goals list with Monica Owens (1986-90) as both have made 411 field goals. Shea trails Nickie Snow (1984-88) by three. 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 126. Ross Mathis on Jan. 17 became the tenth Lady Railsplitter to hit over 100 career treys (Coker did it against UVa-Wise back in November) and is now eighth with 110. Coker trails fourth place Karra Jackson (1998-02) by 37 while Mathis trails seventh place Kara Harris (2007-09) by four. In attempts, Mathis is sixth on the list with 331, while Coker is ninth with 279.  Mathis trails fifth-place Heather Brown (352) by 21. Coker is first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .452 percentage, while Mathis is 12th with 33.2%. Also ranked in the top 50 on the made three-pointer list are Rachel Griffith (22nd), Karsen Sims (24th) and Sydney Duggins (39th).

· REBOUNDS – Shea Coker has cracked the top 50 in rebounds as she is tied for 50th place with Rachel Peach (1981-85) with 277.

· ASSISTS – Ross Mathis is 25th in career assists with 175 and now trails Lori Merriman (1979-81) by one. 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 a tie for 45th place with Shawna Nichols (2007-08) as both have 127.

· STEALS – People must have to lock up their basketballs in Roane County as both of the Griffiths are creeping up the all-time steals list. The twins Griffith are currently tied for 47th place (along with Ruth Simpson (1992-94)) with 74 career steals. (The "third Griffith", a.k.a. their cousin Sydney Duggins, is in 123rd place.) Teammate Ross Mathis is tied with former teammate Josey Harding in 54th place. Rachel and Emily both need just two steals to tie #47 Celine Cloutier (1994-96) and April Hutsell (1995-99).