HARROGATE, Tenn. – The LMU women's basketball team opens their 77th season with a pair of games in the Southeast Region Crossover in Saint Augustine, Florida, on Friday and Saturday.  On Friday they face the host Flagler Saints at 5:30 pm while on Saturday they play Georgia Southwestern at 2:00 p.m.

LMU opens up the 2018-19 campaign with a lot of optimism as they return 14 players from last year's team, including two who redshirted due to injury. Injury is a key word when describing last season's squad, who lost or had several players miss multiple games due to injuries. They finished 18-11 overall and 12-8 in South Atlantic Conference play.

Fans got a preview last Friday when the Lady Railsplitters faced Kentucky in Lexington in an exhibition game, losing 101-64. In that game, Rachel Griffith scored a game-high 26 points, Kentucky native Maggie Jachimczuk had 10 points and Emily Griffith had a near double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. LMU was only out-rebounded by one rebound, 40-39, in the loss.

Following this weekend's games LMU will travel to Southern Indiana next Wednesday.
 
SERIES HISTORY
· This will be the first time that LMU has faced either team.
 
SCOUTING FLAGLER
· The Saints went 18-9 overall last season and 16-6 in the Peach Belt Conference. It was one of their best seasons ever and they narrowly missed earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament.

· They also played an exhibition game recently, losing to Florida State 101-45.

· Flagler was picked to finish fourth in the PBC in the preseason poll. They are also currently ranked ninth in the Southeast Region in the D2SIDA Media Poll, one spot above LMU.

· Head Coach Erika Laing-Montgomery is beginning her tenth year at Flagler. She is the winningest coach in Flagler history and has a 90-150 record.

· The top returner for the Saints is Tabitha Odabe, who averaged 10.1 points, 12.2 rebounds and 4.0 blocks a game last year. She had 105 blocks last year, including 12 in a triple double against Young Harris. Odabe has been named to the PBC preseason all-conference team.

· Other key returners are Malaysia Robinson (9.3 ppg) and Tatiyana Rock (7.2 ppg).
 
SCOUTING GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN
· The Lady Hurricanes went 8-18 last season and 5-17 in the PBC.

· They return six players from last season, led by junior Mariya Trimble, who averaged 10.6 points and 6.8 boards per game. Other key returners are Tamecia Blue (5.2 ppg, 1.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals a game), and Tyra Smith (3.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg).

· Georgia Southwestern was picked to finish tenth in the PBC in the preseason poll.

· Head Coach Kelly Britsky is beginning her twelfth year at Georgia Southwestern. She has a 111-180 record at GSW. Prior to that she spent eight years at LaGrange, where she was that program's first heat coach and also had a concurrent 10-year stint as a volleyball coach.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fifth season at LMU. She has a 77-43 overall record.
 
· The top returning scorer by total points is Emily Griffith, who scored 292 points last season in addition to 2.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
 
· Rachel Griffith is the top returning scorer by scoring average as she was averaging 10.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals a game before missing the last four games of the season due to an injury.

· Cameryn DuBose led the team in rebounding (5.1 per game) and blocks (0.6 per game) last season as a freshman.
 
· SAC Freshman of the Year Qua Hines averaged 8.9 points (fourth on the team), 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game last season
 
· DuBose along with fellow post players Maggie Jachimczuk and Addi Kirkpatrick and guard Sydney Duggins all hit over 50 percent from the field last season. Kirkpatrick led the way with 55.0 percent, followed by DuBose (54.7%), Jachimczuk (53.4%) and Duggins (50.0%).
  
· As a team, LMU averaged 73.7 points a game while holding opponents to 67.7. They out-rebounded opponents by a +7.1 margin.
 
· LMU also ranked tenth in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game, 20th in rebound margin, 27th in three-point percentage, 54th in total assists, 43rd in assists per game, 58th in rebounds per game, 42nd in total rebounds, 48th in scoring offense, 69th in turnovers forced, 68th in total steals, and 67th in steals per game. 
 
 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS –Emily Griffith has cracked the program's top 50 with 542 points and trails Sarah Crook (2000-04) by one point and Janice Mayes (1979-81) by three points, while Rachel isn't far behind at 63rd with 484 points.
 
· FIELD GOALS – Emily Griffith is tied for 52^nd while Rachel Griffith is 66th.
 
· THREE-POINTERS – Rachel Griffith ranks 19th in made three pointers and trails Celine Cloutier (1994-96) by one. Sydney Duggins is tied for 38th with Whitney Vannoy (2006-09), while Dasia Maxwell is in 45th place.
 
· FREE THROWS – Emily Griffith is tied for 44th with Sheila Whitehead (1984-86) as both have 123 free throws. She needs three to tie for 42nd and four to tie Sarah Crook (2000-04) for 41st. Rachel Griffith is in 62nd place with 87 and Qua Hines is tied for 70th place.

· REBOUNDS – Emily Griffith is tied for 84th with Kate Fane (2005-08) as both have 177 rebounds. She needs nine to tie for Lauren Cochran (2011-12) for 83rd. Dasia Maxwell is tied for 94th and Cameron DuBose is close behind at 96th.
 
· ASSISTS – Emily Griffith is in 38th place with 139 while Rachel is 57th with 113. Qua Hines is in 88th place.
 
· STEALS –Emily Griffith has 102 career steals, ranking her 33rd. She trails All-American (and local volleyball/basketball official) Terry Whitehead (1984-86) by one. Rachel Griffith is tied for 45th place with former teammate Ross Mathis with 82.