HENDERSON, Tenn. - Regardless of the outcome, tonight's TranSouth Conference Women's Basketball Championship between No. 1 Freed-Hardeman and Martin Methodist (Tenn.) College will be historic.

For starters, it will be the final women's basketball game played in the 17-year history of the TranSouth Conference, which will dissolve at the end of the spring.

It will also mark the first time that the RedHawks have played in the championship game.

Martin Methodist (16-15) advanced to the title game with a comfortable 80-62 win over Blue Mountain (Miss.) College. Becca Smithson set a school record in that game with seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points. MMC made 11 3-pointers as a team and dominated the glass to the tune of 58-37.

The RedHawks are one of the NAIA's most aggressive rebounding teams, leading the nation in total rebounding at an average of 46.7 per game. They also are tops in offensive rebounding at 19.8 per game, often sending four or even five players to the boards.

Offensively, they rely heavily on guards Smithson and Jessy Christopher. Smithson enters tonight's game with 81 3-pointers while Christopher has made 71 combining for 152 of the team's 183 3's for the season. However, FHU has done a great job defensively on that pair in the two regular season meetings holding them to a combined 4-of-14 from behind the arc. Smithson averages 12.9 points per game and Christopher averages 12.6 points per game.

Posts Kyra Knight and Keri O'Neal lead the team in the paint, averaging 10.0 and 9.4 points per game respectively. They are also the team's top two rebounders at 9.1 (O'Neal) and 8.6 (Knight) per game.

Tonight will be FHU's 11th trip to the championship game. The Lady Lions have a 4-6 record coming into tonight, having won the banner in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010. Last year, they lost in the title game to Union (Tenn.), 55-47.

The Lady Lions (30-1) are one of three teams in the NAIA with 30 wins and the only team with only one loss. They boast the nation's top defense allowing 46.6 points per game and also lead the nation in both rebounding margin at +12.7 per game and scoring margin at +33.6 points per game.

FHU advanced to the championship with a 68-54 over No. 22 Bethel (Tenn.) in the semifinals. Natalie Shumpert and Ashley Tate led the way with 17 and 16 points respectively as the Lady Lions used a 12-0 run in the second half to take control.

Shumpert is the only Lady Lion averaging in double figures (15.8 points per game) but FHU has five other players averaging more than eight points per game as part of its balanced offense that ranks fifth in the nation. Tate has been hot of late, averaging 15.3 points per game in her last four contests.

FHU handily won the two regular season meetings between the teams, prevailing 78-52 in Henderson on Jan. 19 and 73-41 in Pulaski on Feb. 7. The RedHawks totaled 52 turnovers in the two contests.

The road team has only one once in 16 years in the conference championship game. That came in 2010 when FHU won at Union, 75-62.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

History head-to-head in the conference tournament
2012: FHU def. MMC, 101-76
2008: FHU def. MMC, 86-69
2007: MMC def. FHU, 65-61
2003: FHU def. MMC, 91-71
2002: FHU def. MMC, 96-60
1998: FHU def. MMC, 95-85
1997: FHU def. MMC, 92-74