HARROGATE, Tenn. – The LMU women's basketball team will make their final road trip of the 2017-18 regular season this weekend when they travel to Hartsville, S.C. to face Coker in a South Atlantic Conference contest. LMU won the previous meeting in Harrogate 75-59 and are looking to sweep the season series.

LMU comes into the contest with a 14-10 overall record and a 9-8 record in South Atlantic Conference play. They improved to 14-10 Tuesday evening as they stepped out of conference to host Tennessee Wesleyan, winning 100-67. It marked the third time this season that LMU has surpassed the 100 point mark.

In that game, LMU led from wire to wire and used a 13-2 run in the second quarter to put the game away. They scored 27 second chance points and also scored 27 points off of 22 Bulldog turnovers while only committing four turnovers of their own, a program record.

Rachel Griffith tied her career-high with 18 points to lead LMU. The junior shot 4-5 from three-point range and had five rebounds as well. Jordan Brightwell continued the hot shooting streak she has had the past few games as she went 8-12 from the field for a career-high 16 points. She also had seven rebounds. Emily Griffith flirted with the program's first quadruple-double as she had 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and eight steals. The eight steals tied the school record for steals in a game. Shea Coker chipped in 11 points for LMU.

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.

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 COKER
· Coker (no affiliation with LMU's own Shea Coker) are currently 5-15 overall and 5-12 in SAC play. They come into the game looking to end a three-game losing streak that includes losses at Newberry and against Tusculum and Catawba. In their last game, a 63-60 loss to Catawba, Coker missed a game-tying free throw with three seconds remaining and was subsequently forced to foul on the next possession. Catawba hit both free throws to seal the victory.
 
· Shannon Johnson is in her third year as head coach of the Cobras. The former WNBA and ABL All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist has a 23-55 overall record. In addition to winning the Gold Medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Johnson also has gold medals from playing for the United States in the Jones Cup, World University Games and the FIBA World Championship for Women.
 
· Hayley Kropp leads the team in scoring and steals with an average of 11.3 points and 1.2 steals a game. Erin Houser and Janea Williams are tied for second as each has a 10.1 points per game average. Williams also leads the team in rebounds with a 9.1 rebounds per game average, and blocks with 2.7 a game. Hannah Stull's 2.1 assists per game leads the team.
 
· As a team, Coker is averaging 65.7 points a game while opponents are averaging 69.6 points per game. They are also out-rebounding the competition by a 3.0 per-game margin on average and are narrowly out-shooting the competition 38.9 percent to 38.2 percent. They aren't afraid to shoot the ball and crash the boards offensively as they rank third in the SAC in offensive rebounds a game, rebounds per game, and blocks per game. They are also ranked fourth in field goal and free throw attempts.
 
SERIES HISTORY
· The series is currently tied at 5-5. LMU tied it up earlier this season with their win on Jan. 6. The teams are 2-2 in Hartsville. LMU currently has a four game winning streak going against the Cobras.

· All the meetings in this series except the initial one have been conference games. The initial meeting was in the 2012-13 season when the two met in the SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge in Harrogate. (Coker joined the SAC in the summer of 2013) LMU had a 51-48 lead late, but Coker's Hailey Yohn forced overtime with a clutch three-pointer. The game was tied again at 59-59 with 47 seconds left, but CC's Angie Lawrence gave Coker the 61-59 lead with three seconds left. LMU's Ralissa Nelson then tried to drive in for a game-tying shot, but was called for the charge and Coker held on for the win.
 
· In their last meeting in Hartsville on Jan. 21, 2017, LMU never trailed in the 85-68 win. Megan Pittman led LMU with 15 points, Sydnie Anderson had 11 and Karsen Sims chipped in 10 points.

Caitland Considine led Coker with 12 points. According to the stats, Coker out-rebounded LMU 45-32.
 
· In their last meeting in Harrogate, Qua Hines led the way as she helped spark a 15-4 run that enabled the Lady Railsplitters to pull out to a double-digit lead and never look back in the 75-59 win.

Hines led LMU with a career-high 24 points, as well as a team high six rebounds and four assists. Rachel Griffith also tied her own career high with 15 points (since surpassed) while Shea Coker made history by becoming the 19th Lady Railsplitter to reach 1,000 points in their career with her tenth and final point of the game.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fourth season at LMU. She has a 73-42 overall record.

· Shea Coker leads the team in scoring (both two- and three-point) and rebounding and steals as she has a 13.4 point, 4.5 rebound and a 1.7 steal a game average. She currently leads the SAC in three-point percentage and sixth in made three-pointers; ninth in made field goals, offensive rebounds, and steals; and eleventh in points per game and total points.

· Rachel Griffith is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.8 points per game. She also second on the team in assists and ranks second in the SAC in three-point percentage, behind Coker.
 
· Emily Griffith closely trails her sister in scoring, averaging 10.1 points a game, and ranks fifth in the SAC in free throw percentage and steals and eighth in made free throws. She is also averaging 3.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals a game and leads the team in free throws and steals (along with Coker).
 
· Qua Hines is averaging 8.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game
 
· Cameryn DuBose is averaging 4.3 rebounds a game.
 
· Ross Mathis is the team leader in assists and is second in made three-pointers. She also ranks third in the SAC in assist to turnover ratio.
 
· As a team, LMU is averaging 73.5 points a game while holding opponents to 67.0. They are out-rebounding opponents by a +5.6 margin. They lead the SAC in offensive rebounds per game; are second in points per game and assists per game; third in made field goals per game, made three-pointers per game, three-point percentage, total rebounds per game, and steals per game; and they are fourth in total points, rebound margin per game and free throw percentage.
 
· LMU also ranks tenth in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game, 16th in three-point percentage, 34th in assists per game, 45th in total assists, 46th in rebound margin, 56th in scoring offense, 59th in turnovers forced, 64th in rebounds per game, 76th in steals per game, 85th in total rebounds and 87th in total steals. Shea Coker is ranked in five national categories, and Ross Mathis and Emily Griffith are listed in three categories.

RECORD WATCH
· POINTS –Shea Coker currently has 1,125 points and is in 15th place in the all-time scoring list. She trails #14 Robin Cox (1992-96) by 18 points. There are several other players hovering around the 450-to-500-point mark; Emily Griffith is in 60th with 492 points, while Ross Mathis has 484 and ranks 62nd. Griffith trails Sheila Whitehead (1984-86) by three points. Rachel Griffith has moved to 64th with 477 career points. Karsen Sims has 416 and is 72nd.
 
· FIELD GOALS – Coker is currently 12th on the made field goals list with 436 field goals. She trails Robin Cox (1992-96) by 22. Emily Griffith is 61st, Rachel Griffith is 67th and Ross Mathis is 70th. Coker also ranks 15th in career field goal percentage, hitting 47.7 percent of her field goals.
 
· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is ranked fifth in made treys with 136. Ross Mathis is in sixth place with 124. Coker trails fourth place Karra Jackson (1998-02) by 27 while Mathis trails Coker by 12. In attempts, Mathis is fifth on the list with 358, while Coker is eighth with 307. Mathis trails fifth-place Karra Jackson (1998-02) by 61. Coker is first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .443 percentage, while Mathis is eleventh with 34.6%. Also ranked in the top 50 on the made three-pointer list are Rachel Griffith (20th), Karsen Sims (24th) and Sydney Duggins (39th).
 
· REBOUNDS – Shea Coker is in 43rd place with 295. She needs ten to tie Jamie Jackson (2003-05).
 
· ASSISTS – Ross Mathis is 20th in career assists with 199 and now trails Liz McQueen (1980-84) by 18. 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 42nd place with 133.
 
· STEALS –Emily Griffith leapfrogged her sister with her single-game record-tying eight vs. TWU and is now in 41st place with 85 career steals. Rachel Griffith is in 45th place with 82. Teammate Ross Mathis is in 53rd place with 70. Emily needs two steals to tie #39 Jenny Lamb (1990-92) and Kelsey Bradford (2011-13).