HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters return home for the final two games of the regular season as they host a pair of South Atlantic Conference games. First up is third-ranked Carson-Newman Wednesday evening.

LMU comes into the contest with a 15-10 overall record and a 10-8 record in SAC play. Their 15th win came at Coker Saturday afternoon as they held the Cobras to only one basket in the final eight minutes and pulled ahead to escape Hartsville with the 68-64 win.

Qua Hines had 17 points to lead LMU in scoring while Shea Coker chipped in 11 points. Mathis had eight points and a team-high six rebounds and five assists.

Hayley Kropp led the Cobras with 14 points, while Shay Jackson and Erin Houser chipped in 10 points apiece. Janea Williams led Coker with nine 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. The game will also be available regionally on MyVLT.
 
SCOUTING CARSON-NEWMAN
· The Lady Eagles are currently ranked third in the WBCA poll and have been on a tear through the SAC this year, only losing at Wingate where they blew a 12 point fourth quarter lead to lose by 14.
 
· Mika Wester leads the team in scoring with her 17.3 points a game average. Haris Price averages 16.7 per game while Briana Smith has 13.4 points a game. Price also leads the team in assists and steals. Kayla Marosites leads the team in rebounding with 10.0 a game.
 
· As a team, C-N is averaging 94.7 points a game while opponents are averaging 65.4 points per game. They are also out-rebounding the competition by an 8.5 per-game margin on average and are out-shooting the competition 47.7 percent to 38.1 percent.
 
SERIES HISTORY
· LMU trails in the close series 49-44. In the modern era (1974-present) the Lady Eagles hold a 49-34 advantage, but take out a 21 game win streak from 1974-86 and LMU holds a 34-28 lead. LMU has won eight of the last eleven meetings.
 
· This is LMU's oldest rivalry, dating back to the 1920s. The teams played almost every season back then until pressure from the Women's Division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation (which was founded to promote athletic opportunities for women but ended up basically killing women's competitive sports for over 40 years) forced many schools (including C-N) into dropping women's athletics in 1931. LMU continued to field intercollegiate women's basketball until 1945, when the increasing lack of outside competition meant the program became an intramural sport for the next 28 years before the advent of Title IX brought back intercollegiate competition in 1973-74 for both schools.
 
· In the last meeting in Harrogate, LMU grabbed the lead in the second quarter and never relinquished it in the 72-65 win over C-N in the Tex Turner Arena. After swapping leads several times up to that point, LMU went on a 15-4 run to close out the second quarter and LMU led 38-30 at the half. The Eagles would cut the lead to one, but LMU extended it back to four entering the fourth quarter. LMU would take a six point lead and then go half of the fourth quarter without scoring, but the Eagles were unable to take advantage as LMU hit their free throws down the stretch to claim the victory.
 
In that meeting Megan Pittman led LMU with 23 points, one shy of her career high. She also had 10 rebounds. Dasia Maxwell had a career-high 12 points and a team-high three steals. Shea Coker added in 11 points while Josey Harding had a game high eleven rebounds.
 
· The last meeting between the two in the postseason was in the SAC Tournament semifinals on March 4, 2017 in Greeneville, SC. The teams swapped leads until late in the second quarter, when a Coker jumper gave LMU a two point lead at the half. The Lady Railsplitters extended the lead to as much as ten points in the third quarter and never looked back in the 72-67 win.
 
Karsen Sims led LMU with 18 points, Josey Harding had 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds while Shea Coker had 14 points. Mika Wester led the Lady Eagles with 19 points.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fourth season at LMU. She has a 74-42 overall record.
 
· Shea Coker leads the team in scoring (both two- and three-point) and rebounding and steals as she has a 13.3 point and 4.4 rebound a game average. She currently leads the SAC in three-point percentage and sixth in made three-pointers; ninth in made field goals and offensive rebounds; tenth in steals; eleventh in points per game; and twelfth in total points.
 
· Rachel Griffith is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.6 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 9.8 points a game, and ranks fourth in the SAC in free throw percentage, fifth in steals and ninth 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.
 
· Qua Hines is averaging 8.6 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 73.3 points a game while holding opponents to 66.8. They are out-rebounding opponents by a +5.8 margin. They lead the SAC in offensive rebounds per game; are second in total points; third in points per game, assists per game, 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 rebound margin per game.
 
· LMU also ranks 12th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game, 19th in three-point percentage, 34th in assists per game, 45th in total assists, 42nd in rebound margin, 57th in scoring offense, 58th in turnovers forced, 67th in rebounds per game, 81st in steals per game, 91st in total rebounds and 97th 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 1,136 points and is in 15th place in the all-time scoring list. She trails #14 Robin Cox (1992-96) by seven points. There are several other players hovering around the 450-to-500-point mark; Emily Griffith is in 59th with 496 points, while Ross Mathis has 492 and ranks 61st. Griffith trails Amy Carlyle (1989-91) by nine points. Rachel Griffith has moved to 63rd with 484 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 17. Emily Griffith is 60th, Rachel Griffith is 66th and Ross Mathis is 70th. Coker also ranks 15th in career field goal percentage, hitting 47.6 percent of her field goals.
 
· THREE-POINTERS - Coker is ranked fifth in made treys with 137. Ross Mathis is in sixth place with 126. Coker trails fourth place Karra Jackson (1998-02) by 26 while Mathis trails Coker by 11. In attempts, Mathis is fifth on the list with 364, while Coker is eighth with 312. Mathis trails fifth-place Karra Jackson (1998-02) by 55. Coker is first on the 3-pt percentage list with a .439 percentage, while Mathis is eleventh with 34.6%. Also ranked in the top 50 on the made three-pointer list are Rachel Griffith (19th), Karsen Sims (24th) and Sydney Duggins (38th).
 
· REBOUNDS – Shea Coker is in 43rd place with 297. She needs eight to tie Jamie Jackson (2003-05).
 
· ASSISTS – Ross Mathis is 20th in career assists with 204 and now trails Liz McQueen (1980-84) by 13. Shea Coker and Karsen Sims are tied for 38th on the list with 137 assists with Bridget Long (1990-94) and trails Kara Harris (2007-09) by one.
 
· STEALS –Emily Griffith leapfrogged her sister with her single-game record-tying eight vs. TWU and is now in 41st place with 86 career steals. Rachel Griffith is in 45th place
with 82. Teammate Ross Mathis is in 53rd place with 71. Emily needs one steals to tie #39 Jenny Lamb (1990-92) and Kelsey Bradford (2011-13).