HARROGATE, Tenn. – The LMU women's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of the Tex Turner Arena for a pair of games this week as they host Tennessee Wesleyan Tuesday evening and Wingate Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Railsplitters are currently 4-3 on the season and 2-1 in SAC play following their 82-78 win over Queens in a pre-Snowmageddon contest Saturday afternoon. Queens grabbed an early lead, but LMU came back late in the first quarter and the lead changed hands several times over the next few minutes. In the third quarter, a Sydney Newsome three-pointer sparked a run that gave LMU the lead for good. The Royals mounted a late comeback and cut the lead to three with less than a minute remaining, but LMU hit their free throws down the stretch to pull out the win.

Rachel Griffith led the way with 22 points, tying her career high, Newsome chipped in 15. Dasia Maxwell added in 14 points and Maggie Jachimczuk scored 13. Maxwell also led LMU with six rebounds. As a team, LMU went 10-17 from three-point range, the fourth best single-game performance in program history.

Following this game, LMU will host Wingate on Saturday before hitting the road to close out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule next Wednesday at Anderson.

This game features a pair of teams with a unique feature in that the oldest female athlete (probably the oldest living athlete, male or female) for both schools is the same person, Geneva Whitaker Rutherford.

Mrs. Rutherford is a native of Calhoun, Tennessee (about 15 miles from Tennessee Wesleyan's campus) and after graduating from Charleston High School in 1933 she attended Tennessee Wesleyan College, which was then a two-year school. There, as at Charleston HS, she was a standout basketball player and track athlete. She transferred to LMU after graduating from TWC in 1935 and played basketball and ran track for two years for the Lady Railsplitters. By nearly all accounts, had the school had a Female Athlete of the Year award back then she would have won it both years.

She graduated from LMU in 1937 and taught mathematics and coached girls' basketball for many years at Clinton High School, where she worked until her retirement. While at Clinton she had a brush with history as she taught several members (if not all) of the Clinton 12. Clinton was the first school in the South to desegregate after the Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling in 1954, admitting 12 African American students in the fall of 1956. Their story is not as well known today as other desegregation efforts, but it made international headlines at the time.

Rutherford currently lives in Clinton, Tennessee, and celebrated her 103rd birthday back in June. Coach Krystal Evans as well as others from both LMU and Tennessee Wesleyan were there to help her celebrate it.


SERIES HISTORY
· LMU leads the series 35-21. Until the meeting last season the two teams had not played since LMU joined the NCAA in 1990. LMU has a 20-7 record in Harrogate.

· In last season's meeting, LMU never trailed as they jumped on the Bulldogs early and kept the pressure up in a 100-67 win on Feb. 13 in the Tex Turner Arena. LMU also set another record in the contest as they had a program-record four turnovers for the game.

Rachel Griffith led the way for LMU as she had 18 points and five rebounds. Jordan Brightwell chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds. Emily Griffith had an awesome all-around performance as she had 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and eight steals. The eight steals tied the program record. Hannah Troutt led Tennessee Wesleyan with 13 points, while Kenzie Conn had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Kaitlin Simon also chipped in 10 points.
 
· The two teams played for many years in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. When both brought basketball back in the mid-1970s, they played every year from 1978-1990.
 
· The last meeting between the two prior to last season was on Feb. 27, 1990 in the Mary Mars Gym in the NAIA District 24 East Division Championship. LMU rolled out to a 45-29 lead at the half and then held the Bulldogs to only 33 second half points as they coasted to the 105-72 win, their 26th of the season.
Debbie Green led LMU with 23 points, including an impressive 11-11 performance at the free throw line. Robin Adams had 16 points, Amy Carlyle chipped in 14 points and a game-high six rebounds, Pam Walters scored 11 points, and Laura Winters and Monica Owens had 10 points each. Owens also had eight assists. Tennessee Wesleyan was led by Renee Bowman's 20 points. Holly Harper also had 11 points.
 
· When LMU brought back women's basketball full-time in the 1970s, they joined the men's programs in what was then the Volunteer State Athletic Conference. The VSAC at the time was set up in East and West Divisions, with LMU being in the East. In the mid-1980s the East Division became the Tennessee Valley Athletic Conference, with the West becoming the Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference. Both had "conference" tournaments, which were actually the NAIA District 24 East and West Division championships, with the respective winners meeting for the NAIA National Tournament bid. From 1986-91, LMU won the District 24 East Championship each season (and were runners-up from 1984-86). Each time they would fall in the District 24 title game.
 
LMU left the TVAC in 1989 to begin the process of joining the NCAA Division II. After UVa-Wise and Virginia Intermont joined the TVAC later on, it became known as the Tennessee-Virginia Athletic Conference before changing its name in 2001 to the Appalachian Athletic Conference. Some other current and former members of the now-AAC that LMU played were UVa-Wise, Carson-Newman, Tusculum, King, Milligan, and Tennessee Wesleyan.
 
SCOUTING TENNESSEE WESLEYAN
· The Bulldogs are currently 6-4 on the season and 0-2 in Appalachian Athletic Conference play. This game, as well as their next game at Tennessee Tech on Dec. 29, are being counted as exhibition games by TWU.

· Hunter Simpson leads the way for Tennessee Wesleyan as she averages 18.1 points and 9.4 rebounds a game. Simpson also averages 4.2 assists and 2.0 steals a game. Hannah Cherry is chipping in 10.3 points a game while Gina Dick is second on the team in rebounding with 6.2 rebounds a game.

· As a team, the Bulldogs are outscoring by their opponents by a 64.1-62.7 points a game margin. They are also out-rebounding their opponents by a 10.1 rebound per game average. One weak spot is their 17.1 turnovers a game average.

· While there are no common opponents between the two schools, TWU's season opener was a 62-61 win over the College of Coastal Georgia, who is coached by former LMU head coach Roger Hodge.

· TWU Head Coach Jeff Rice is in his 13th season at TWU. He has a 260-127 record. He is a coaching "Jeff-of-all-trades" as he also has coached the TWU softball team in the past, acquiring a 350-234 record, and is currently coaching the Bulldog men's golf team.

· Last season's squad finished 18-11 and 16-8 in the AAC.

· The Bulldogs return seven players from last season who had significant playing time, including four starters. Leading the way is senior Hunter Simpson, who was the AAC Player of the Year and a Second Team NAIA All-American last season.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fifth season at LMU. She has an 81-46 overall record.
 
· Rachel Griffith currently leads the team with an average of 15.1 points a game. Twin sister Emily has 10.9 per game while Dasia Maxwell has 11.0. Sydney Newsome has 8.4 a game.
 
· Shermeria Quarles leads the team in rebounds average-wise with 6.0 a game, while freshman Sydney Newsome has a 5.9 per game average with more actual rebounds in more game appearances.
 
· Lindsay Proffitt ranks fifth in the SAC in three-point percentage as she is hitting 44.4 percent.
 
· As a team, LMU is averaging 76.7 points a game while holding opponents to 75.7. They are out-rebounding opponents by a margin of +5.7 a game.
 
· LMU leads the SAC in three-point percentage. They are second in points, made field goals, field goal attempts, assists, and offensive rebounds per game.

 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS –Emily Griffith ranks 44th with 618 points and trails Sara Wood (1998-02) by 20 points. Rachel Griffith isn't far behind at 48th with 590 points.
 
· FIELD GOALS – Emily Griffith is 48th with 230 while Rachel Griffith is 55th. Dasia Maxwell is in 81st place.
 
· THREE-POINTERS – Rachel Griffith ranks 17th in made three pointers with 71 and trails Amanda Jackson (1997-01) and Sara Wood (1998-02) by one. Sydney Duggins ranks 32nd, while Dasia Maxwell is in 39th place. Emily Griffith is in 64th place.
 
· FREE THROWS – Emily Griffith is in 40th place with 145 free throws. She needs four to tie Monica Owens (1986-90). Rachel Griffith is in 49th place with 115 following her 10-15 performance at Queens and Qua Hines is tied for 70th place.

· REBOUNDS – Emily Griffith is 78th with 206 rebounds. She needs two to tie Jenny Lamb (1990-92). Dasia Maxwell is 85th and Cameron DuBose is close behind at 95th. Rachel Griffith is in 97th place.
 
· ASSISTS – Emily Griffith is in 26th place with 169 assists while Rachel is 42nd with 136. Qua Hines is in 88th place.
 
· STEALS –Emily Griffith has 111 career steals, placing her at 28th. She needs one to tie Aisjah Lee (2013-15). Rachel Griffith is in 37th place with 97.