HENDERSON, Tenn. - The Freed-Hardeman Lady Lions can clinch the American Midwest Conference regular season championship on Thursday night as they host 17th-ranked Lyon (Ark.) College at 5:30 PM.

GAME COVERAGE
Video: FHU Game Central
Audio: FHU Game Central; FM91 (John Armstrong, play-by-play; Jason Shockley, color)
Stats: Live Stats

SETTING THE STAGE
No. 1 Freed-Hardeman (25-1, 20-0) holds a two-game lead over Lyon (22-4, 18-2) in the conference standings with three games to play. A Lady Lion win would give them their second straight regular season championship and home-court advantage through the upcoming conference tournament. The Scots have been one of FHU's nemeses in the past few seasons as one of the very few teams to score wins over the Lady Lions.

LAST TIME THEY MET
FHU used a late 8-0 run to pull away from Lyon, leading by as many as 16 before scoring a 72-61 win in Batesville, Ark., on Jan. 8. It broke a three-game losing streak by FHU at Lyon. Hayley Newby scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Grace Alonso de Armino had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Freed-Hardeman leads the all-time series, 30-10. FHU has won five in a row at home over the Scots with Lyon's last win in Henderson coming on Jan. 26, 2008.

BATTLE OF THE STREAKS
Both teams carry long winning streaks into tonight's game. Freed-Hardeman has won a program-record 25 straight games while Lyon has won 11 straight, with its last loss coming against the Lady Lions. Last year, the Scots broke FHU's 24-game winning streak.

TOP 10 DEFENSES
This game features two of the top scoring defenses in the NAIA. FHU enters the game ranked fourth in the nation, allowing 54.5 points per game, while Lyon is eighth at 55.6 points per game. In the last meeting, Freed-Hardeman scored the most points (72) that the Scots have allowed all season. Lyon has since allowed 72 on two more occasions.

CHASING 1000
Hayley Newby is closing in on joining Grace Alonso de Armino in the 1000 rebound club. She enters tonight with 971 career rebounds, needing 29 to become the sixth player in program history to reach the millennium mark.

MARGINALLY SPEAKING
The Lady Lions are among the nation's best in three important margin categories. FHU is second in rebounding margin at plus-15.1 and has bounced back and forth between first and second for most of the season. FHU is also third in turnover margin (+7.7) and third in scoring margin (+28.5).

800 CLUB
Freed-Hardeman head coach Dale Neal won his 800th game on Saturday in the Lady Lions' 99-55 drubbing of Hannibal-LaGrange. He has won 567 of those games at FHU.

MOVING ON UP
Grace Alonso de Armino ranks in the top 10 at Freed-Hardeman in two career categories. She has climbed to third all-time in rebounding with 1080 and has a chance to finish her career as the No. 2 all-time rebounder. She also ranks sixth in career steals (222) with a shot to finish her career ranking fourth all-time. Hayley Newby is in the top 10 in three categories - field goals made (663, 10th), rebounds (980, 6th) and field goal percentage (51.1, 8th) - and is 11th in career points with 1676.

SCOUTING THE SCOTS
Lyon is quietly enjoying one of its best seasons in school history at 22-4 entering tonight's game. The Scots have won 11 straight and haven't lost since the last time they faced off against Freed-Hardeman. Lyon has been successful in large part due to a hard-nosed defensive style, and they allow just 55.6 points per game while forcing 21.8 turnovers per game. They also shoot the ball efficiently inside the arc (47.7 percent) relying on the post play of Taylor Gaedtke (11.6 ppg; 54.9 percent) and Elliott Taylor (10.2 ppt; 58.8 percent). Carina Jackson, however, is their go-to player. A dangerous scorer from the outside, Jackson scores 12.8 points per game and is the team's best outside shooter at 37.7 percent from behind the arc.