No. 10 Lady Eagles To Face SAC-Rival Tusculum Saturday

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman will have one of its toughest tests of the year Saturday when the 10th-ranked Lady Eagles travel to Greeneville to take on South Atlantic Conference-rival Tusculum at 2:00 p.m., in Pioneer Arena.

The game will be broadcast on WMTN AM 1300 out of Morristown and can be heard over the airwaves in the Lakeway Region. Aaron Vargas will provide play-by-play for the Lady Eagles.

C-N enters the game off to the best start in school history at 14-0 and atop the SAC with a 4-0 record in league play while Tusculum is 9-5 and 2-2 in the conference under first-year Head Coach Adell Harris.

“It’s Tusculum,” said Lady Eagle Head Coach Dean Walsh. “Throw the records and statistics out the window because anything can happen. It’s going to be 94 feet for 40 minutes, and if you’re not ready to play hard you don’t need to be wearing the orange-and-blue tomorrow.”

The two clubs are both listed highly in the league statistics and are one-two in four categories. Tusculum is averaging 79.0 points per game while C-N is posting 78.1 per contest. The Lady Eagles lead the SAC in scoring margin at +15.6 while the Pioneers are second at +11.8 points per outing. Both teams have high-powered offenses that convert over 44.0 percent of their field goal opportunities.

Carson-Newman leads the SAC in blocks (5.8), steals (14.4) and turnover margin as well (+7.64) and is second in assists (15.3 apg).

The Lady Eagles have two players in the top 10 in the league in scoring as guards Mandy Mendenhall (15.5 ppg) and Ashley Kyle (14.6 ppg) are seventh and eighth, respectively. TC’s Jasmine Gunn is fourth in the SAC in scoring at 17.2 points per contest.

Kyle and Gunn are first and third in assists (5.1 apg to 4.6 apg) while Gunn leads the league in steals with 3.6 per outing to Kyle’s 2.5 per game, which is good for second.

C-N forward Shari Buford is first in the SAC in blocks at 2.9 per game while the Pioneers’ Kat Spears is second with 2.3 per contest. Buford is second in the league in rebounding (10.6 rpg) and Spears is fourth (9.3 rpg).

Tusculum’s Kendal Baxter is atop the conference in three-pointers made as she hits 3.5 buckets from long range per game.

Carson-Newman leads the all-time series, 44-11, but the Pioneers claimed two of the three meetings last season.