No. 6 Seed Clayton State (24-6, 15-4 PBC) will take on one of the top teams in the nation as they face No. 3 Seed Lincoln Memorial (26-4, 19-3 SAC) in an NCAA Division II Southeast Region Tournament Quarterfinal on Friday, March 10. Game time is set for 12 noon as the first game of the day at Columbus State’s Frank G. Lumpkin Jr. Center in Columbus, Georgia.
The Lakers make their 12th NCAA Tournament appearance, all of which have come in the last 13 years, and second straight under head coach Kaleena Coleman. Additionally, she is the only individual to be part of every one of those trips as either a player, assistant coach or head coach since joining the program in 2003-04.
LMU comes into the game having opened the season winning their first 20 games before a last second 71-69 loss to Wingate on February 4 sent them into a 6-4 slide. That stretch was capped by an 81-61 loss to Wingate in the South Atlantic Conference Championship Game on March 5. They enter the tournament ranked No. 13 in the USA Today Sports/WBCA Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the final D2SIDA Media Poll and have been highly ranked throughout the season.
All-time, the Lakers are 2-1 against the Railsplitters dating back to the first meeting on November 20, 1994. LMU won that game 73-56 before the teams took a 13-year hiatus. When the series resumed, it was Clayton State earning a 74-63 win on November 16, 2007 and a 64-55 decision on December 29, 2010. They have never met in the postseason.
The Lakers are 21-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament since making their first appearance in the 2004-05 season. That has included four trips to the Elite Eight and the only women’s basketball national championship in the history of the Southeast Region.
The game will be available on both live stats and live video on www.ClaytonStateSports.com. Fans can follow all the action throughout the Regional on the Southeast Region Central page. This includes live stat and streaming links as well as schedule of games, team information, brackets and the championship program.