HARROGATE, Tenn. – After having won six games in a row, the LMU women's basketball team now makes the short trip across Clinch Mountain to face South Atlantic Conference foe and ancient rival Carson-Newman for the 97th time Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.

This game could be called the "Final Battle of the Twins" as both teams have a pair of identical twins on their roster. LMU has seniors Emily and Rachel Griffith while C-N has juniors Kayla and Kelci Marosites, who joined C-N last season. Meetings between teams with identical twins are very rare, and this will be the fifth time these pairs have met in college. Barring post-season play, this will be the final meeting between the two pairs.

The Lady Railsplitters are 12-6 overall and 8-3 in SAC play on the season, ranking them third in the SAC standings behind Anderson and Wingate.

They defeated Coker this past Saturday 85-63 after having essentially led from wire to wire. Dasia Maxwell exploded for 11 of her game-high (and career-high) 18 points in the first quarter and helped LMU go on a 15-1 early run and never look back. Sydney Newsome also had a career high as she had 17 points in addition to seven assists.

For the game, LMU hit an outstanding 54.1 percent of their shots from the field, which is the second-best shooting percentage in a game in the Krystal Evans era.

Following this game, LMU will return to the Tex Turner Arena for a Royal appointment with Queens Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
SERIES HISTORY
· LMU trails C-N in the all-time series 51-45, mainly due to a long winning streak by the Eagles in the late 1970s-early 1980s under legendary C-N head coach Lewis Bivins. LMU has won nine of the last 14 meetings and is 17-30 in Jefferson City.

· 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 their most recent meeting, LMU had a poor start and a great finish but it wasn't enough as the Eagles won 91-80 on Nov. 28 in Harrogate. LMU trailed by 24 heading into the fourth quarter and cut it to nine before time ran out in the contest.
Rachel Griffith paced LMU in scoring with 16 points, including a 5-5 performance at the free throw line. Dasia Maxwell chipped in 12 points and Emily Griffith had 11. Kayla Marosites led C-N with 22 points and 16 rebounds, while Haris Price had 19 and Briana Smith and Addison Byrd each had 11 points.

· The last time the two teams met in Jefferson City, on Jan. 17, 2018, LMU shot 51.6 percent from the field, hit 14 three-pointers and 53.1 percent from three-point range, and saw Ross Mathis hit seven three-pointers of her own – and lost 105-90 on the back of 22 turnovers, 38 points by Haris Price and a 23-6 run by C-N in the second quarter. Shea Coker led LMU with 23 points and Mathis had 21 points and eight assists. Rachel Griffith chipped in 17 points. Price had 38 for C-N, while Katie Stubblefield had 12 points and Kayla Marosites and Briana Smith each scored 11 points.
 
SCOUTING C-N
· C-N enters the game with a 14-5 record and a 7-4 SAC record, which puts them in fourth place, one game behind LMU. In their most recent outing they lost to Wingate 76-75 Saturday on a late basket by WU freshman Jo Snow.

· Haris Price leads the Eagles in scoring (17.5 points a game), assists (3.1 a game) and steals (2.1 a game). Kayla Marosites is averaging 14.5 points a game, Addison Byrd 13.2 ppg and Briana Smith 12.6 ppg.

· Kayla Marosites leads the team in rebounding with 11.7 a game.

· As a team, the Eagles are outscoring their opponents 81.3 to 70.7 points a game, and out-rebounding their opponents by a +3.5 margin.

· Price is fourth in the SAC in scoring (just ahead of Emily Griffith) and Kayla Marosites ranks ninth, just ahead of Rachel Griffith.

· The Eagles lead the SAC in points, points per game, free throw percentage and turnovers per game.

· Like LMU, C-N features a pair of identical twins in Kayla and Kelci Marosites. The two are juniors this season.
 
SCOUTING LMU
· Head Coach Krystal Evans is in her fifth season at LMU. She has an 89-49 overall record.
 
· LMU is seeing double as both Emily Griffith and her twin sister Rachel currently lead the team in scoring, with Emily edging out Rachel 16.0 points a game to 14.4. In conference games they flip spots as Rachel is averaging 16.9 points to Emily's 16.3. Sydney Newsome has 8.7 points a game, while Dasia Maxwell has 8.1.
 
· Rebounding is a team effort this season as Maggie Jachimczuk leads the team in rebounds with 5.5 a game, while Newsome has a 5.3 per game average. Dasia Maxwell and Emily Griffith are close behind with 4.4, while Addi Kirkpatrick has a 4.2 rebounds a game average.  
 
· Emily Griffith leads the team with 3.7 assists a game, followed closely by Rachel with 3.1. Newsome has 2.3 a game.

· The twins are also close in steals, with Rachel averaging 1.9 a game and Emily 1.7. Maxwell has 1.3 a game and Newsome 1.2.
 
· LMU has four of the top 15 three-point shooters in the SAC, as Sydney Duggins (44.7) is first and Lindsay Proffitt (40.5) are first and third in the conference, respectively. Dasia Maxwell ranks ninth and Rachel Griffith is 12th.
 
· As a team, LMU is averaging 76.4 points a game while holding opponents to 72.0. They are out-rebounding opponents by a margin of +6.4 a game.
 
· LMU leads the SAC in made free throws a game and offensive rebounds per game. They are second in assists per game, field goal attempts, free throw attempts, three-point percentage, and total rebounds per game. They rank third in points, points per game, and made field goals per game; and rank fourth in rebound margin.
 
RECORD WATCH
· POINTS –Emily Griffith currently has 830 points, placing her in 29th place, and trails Melinda Godfrey (1996-98) and Heather Brown (1993-97) by fifty points. Rachel Griffith isn't far behind at 38th with 744 points.
 
· FIELD GOALS – Emily Griffith is 28th with 316 while Rachel Griffith is 29th. Dasia Maxwell is in 71st place.
 
· THREE-POINTERS – Rachel Griffith ranks 13th in made three pointers with 82 and trails Katrina Ottesen (2013-15) by seven. Sydney Duggins ranks 24th, while Dasia Maxwell is in 30th place. Emily Griffith is in 49th place.
 
· FREE THROWS – Emily Griffith is in 28th place with 179 free throws. She needs two to tie Chasity Williams (2002-06). Rachel Griffith is in 32nd place with 166.
 
· REBOUNDS – Emily Griffith ranks 57th with 257 rebounds. She needs one to tie Jennifer Acree (1998-00) for 56th place. Dasia Maxwell is 74th, Rachel Griffith is in 86th place and Cameryn DuBose is close behind at 92nd. 

· ASSISTS – Emily Griffith is in 21st place with 206 assists. She needs 11 to tie former teammate Ross Mathis (2014-18) and Liz McQueen (1980-84) for 19th. Rachel Griffith is 27th with 169. Dasia Maxwell is in 76th place.

· BLOCKS – Emily Griffith ranks 28th with 31 career blocks, two blocks (and one spot) ahead of teammate and fellow senior Dasia Maxwell. Emily is one block behind 27th place Amanda Jackson (1997-01). Cameryn DuBose is in 47th place and Rachel Griffith ranks 58th.
 
· STEALS – Emily Griffith has 133 career steals, placing her at 17th. She needs five to tie Hillary Ross (2000-04). Rachel Griffith is in 28th place with 116.