Carson-Newman Women’s Basketball Overwhelms Augusta State, 100-64, Wednesday Evening At Holt Fieldhouse

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman College Women’s Basketball Team (2-0) shot 53.8 percent from the floor Wednesday night and forced a school-record 41 turnovers as it defeated Augusta State University (0-1) in a 100-64 rout at Holt Fieldhouse. The Lady Eagles improved their shooting by nearly 22 percent from their first outing of the season Sunday.  C-N also had 24 steals on the night, which broke the program's top-mark by one take aways.

“We were making shots tonight, and when you make shots there’s more bounce in your step,” said ninth-year Head Coach Dean Walsh after the game. “I think the adjustments we made from Sunday helped us a lot. We worked on shooting and our press and both of those things showed tonight. We have 27 seasons this year because we are treating each game as a new season. We’ve played two seasons so far, and we want each one to be better than the last.”

The Jaguars led for only 10 seconds in the game as they held a one-point lead (5-4) at the 17:58 mark. Carson-Newman responded with a 15-2 run covering 4:10 and never looked back.

With the score 25-14 in favor of the Lady Eagles at the 11:49 mark, C-N went on a 27-8 run to finish the half and held a 52-22 lead at the break. Carson-Newman scored 25 of their first half points off turnovers, forcing 23 Augusta State miscues in the first 20 minutes of play.

“They really weren’t able to run much of an offense,” commented Walsh. “We disrupted them with our defensive pressure and got a lot of layups off of steals.”

C-N went on a 32-15 run over the course of 9:38 in the second half to extend their lead to 95-49 and put any though of a Jaguar comeback out of reach. Though down by 46, Augusta State continued to play hard as the team went on a scoring burst of their own, tallying 15 of the contest’s last 20 points.

The Lady Eagles reached the century mark on two free throws by sophomore guard Lundyn Howard (Chattanooga, Tenn.) with 0.2 seconds remaining in the game. It was the first time since Feb. 18 against Brevard (106-84) that C-N scored at least 100 points.

Every player on Carson-Newman’s bench played at least five minutes and all but two players scored.

“Our kids work hard every day in practice so it’s great to give them the minutes they work so hard for,” continued Walsh. “Our entire team did a great job encouraging one another from the tip to the final horn. Our 22 assists also show how unselfish we are with the ball.”

C-N senior guard Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) led all scorers with 20 points and dished out seven assists without committing a turnover. Senior forward Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) had 14 points as well for the Lady Eagles and added four rebounds and four blocks.

Junior Katlin Moore (Rock Hill, S.C.) had 13 points and four steals to go along with three assists for the Lady Eagles while junior Mandy Mendenhall (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) had 13 points of her own.

Sophomore forward Zoriah Williams (Calera, Ala.) had five steals while freshman forward Dominique Jackson (North Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) collected eight rebounds as well for C-N.

Augusta State was led by Blaire Egardo (West Covina, Calif.) with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Jarquella Woods (Columbus, Ga.), Waneta Carlisle (Leesburg, Va.) and Stacey Lampkin (Hephzibah, Ga.) each had 10 points for the Jaguars.

Kirsten Stallings (Memphis, Tenn.) had six points, eight rebounds and four steals as well for Augusta State.

Carson-Newman will return to the court on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m., in the first game of the 2009 Lady Eagle Classic. C-N will play Converse College, while the 8:00 p.m., nightcap will feature Brevard College and King (Tenn.) College.