HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The LMU women's basketball team used career-high performances from Dasia Maxwell and Sydney Newsome to slither past the Cobras 85-63 Saturday afternoon and win their sixth consecutive game.

The Lady Railsplitters (12-6, 8-3 South Atlantic Conference) are now third in the SAC standings and have not lost since January 5. 

LMU had one of the best offensive outputs of the Krystal Evans era as they hit 54.1 percent of their shots from the field (33-61), which is the second-best shooting percentage since Evans came to LMU in 2014. They also went 6-15 (40.0%) from three-point range and out-rebounded Coker 36-27.

The Lady Railsplitter defense held the Cobras to 44.4% from the field, 18.2% from behind the arc and 48.1% from the free throw line.

Maxwell led the team with a career-high 18 points, 11 of which came in the first quarter and sparked LMU early in the contest. The senior went 8-11 from the floor and 2-2 from long-range. Freshman Sydney Newsome also had a career day as she flirted with LMU's first true triple-double in women's basketball as she had career highs in both points (17) and assists (7) while pulling down five rebounds. Sydney Duggins also chipped in 12 points while Addi Kirkpatrick led all players with eight rebounds and Kyndall Caudle led all players with five steals.

Maxwell hit her first two points on LMU's first possession, but the Cobras hit back to back baskets to take a 4-2 lead. That would be their only lead and very short-lived as Newsome scored her first two points 20 second later and sparked a 15-1 run for the Blue and Gray. Coker would mount a comeback and cut the lead to 18-14 with 1:59 remaining in the period but LMU would score six straight to close out the stanza with a 24-14 lead.

LMU extended their lead in the second quarter to 32-15 and Coker was never able to get within 10 points over the rest of the period as LMU would hold a 39-27 advantage at the half.

The third quarter is usually one of the best for LMU since women's basketball switched to quarters in 2015, and today was no exception as they dominated Coker over the quarter, outscoring them by a 31-18 margin and hitting over 60 percent from the field (63.2%), three-point range (66.7%) and the free throw line (60.0%). The Cobras did cut the lead to 43-34 with 6:52 remaining, but a layup by Emily Griffith and a steal and a layup by her sister Rachel shut the door on the Cobras.

LMU would extend the lead to 20-plus points soon afterward and never allowed Coker to get any close than 19 points over the rest of the game as they went on to claim the 85-63 win.

Hope Richardson came off the bench to lead Coker (4-13, 3-8 SAC) in scoring with 13 points, while Haliyah Sumter chipped in 10 points and dished out four assists.

Up Next
LMU will make the short trip to Mossy Creek on Wednesday to face arch-rival Carson-Newman at 6 p.m. The Eagles won the earlier meeting this season in Harrogate and trail LMU by one game in the SAC standings following their 76-75 loss to Wingate earlier today. 

Quick Hits
-The best shooting percentage from the field in the Krystal Evans era to date is 55.2 percent in a 91-63 win at Mars Hill on Feb. 15, 2017. Today was the only other time LMU has shot better than 54 percent for the game in that period.

-The nine-rebound advantage over Coker marks the sixth time this season that LMU has out-rebounded an opponent by nine or more rebounds. They have won the rebounding battle in 16 of their 18 games this season.