No. 20 Carson-Newman Downs Wingate, 76-65, Saturday Afternoon On The Road

WINGATE, N.C. – The No. 20 Lady Eagles (22-5, 11-5 SAC) placed six players in double figures as they sealed third place in the South Atlantic Conference regular season Saturday, defeating Wingate (14-13, 7-9 SAC) by a score of 76-65 at Cuddy Arena.

“We got a good win today and our kids played awful hard,” said C-N Head Coach Dean Walsh. “We turned it over too many times, gave up too many offensive rebounds and fouled too much. That might have had to do with the aggressiveness we had tonight. We ran the ball well and shot the ball well. When you shoot well, good things happen. I’m proud of the way we bounced back from a disastrous loss on Wednesday.”

With the score tied 5-5 early in the first half, Carson-Newman went on a 15-4 run that covered 3:33 to go up by 11. Junior guard Mandy Mendenhall (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) hit two three-pointers during the stretch. C-N would score the final six points of the half to take a 43-26 lead into the break.

After the intermission, Carson-Newman extended its lead to 20 at 48-28, but the Bulldogs would close the gap to 10 with a 10-0 run that covered three minutes. C-N built the lead back to 19 and though Wingate was able to cut the lead to 10 points once more, that was as close as the game would be. The Lady Eagles held on for the 76-65 victory.

Carson-Newman outshot Wingate by a 47.7% (31-for-65) to a 30.2% (19-for-63) margin and forced the Bulldogs into 22 turnovers.

Senior forward Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) had game-highs in points (15) rebounds, (13) and blocks (five). Buford is now the only player in school history to have 1000 points, 1000 rebounds and 200 blocks.

Senior guard Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) had 13 points and three assists while freshman guard Candis Clear (Memphis, Tenn.) had 12 points and sophomore forward Zoriah Williams (Calera, Ala) chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds.

Mendenhall and junior guard Katlin Moore (Rock Hill, S.C.) finished the game with 10 while freshman forward Courdne Miles (Burlington, N.C.) had a career-high five blocks in the contest.

Wingate was led offensively by Erica Crumlin (Irmo, S.C.) with 12 points and she added six rebounds. Kurie Washington (Marion, N.C.), Stacie Rhodes (Knightdale, N.C.), and Sarah Wollett (Raleigh, N.C.) each had nine points for the Bulldogs in the loss.

Carson-Newman will play in the 2010 Food Lion SAC Tournament Quarterfinals on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., at Holt Fieldhouse. Official pairings for the tournament will be released Sunday afternoon by the conference office.