Lady Eagles overpower Brevard, 79-52
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The Carson-Newman College women’s basketball team kicked off 2012 potion of their schedule on a high note, cruising to a 79-52 win over Brevard College Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
Senior forward Zoriah Williams (Calera, Ala.) led the charge for the Lady Eagles with 17 points and seven rebounds. Williams thrived in the physical contest, missing only three shots from the floor all night.
Carson-Newman is now 8-3 on the season and 2-1 in South Atlantic Conference play. The Lady Tornadoes are 5-5 and is winless in the SAC at 0-3.
The Lady Eagles opened the game hot, shooting 65.4 percent from the floor. Williams had a quiet first half with just five points but junior forward Whitney Moody (Blountville, Tenn.) and sophomore forward Shannon Depew (Newport, Tenn.) picked up the slack, each scoring seven points in the first half, mostly in the lane. C-N controlled action inside the paint, picking up 38 points in front of the basket to Brevard's 18. In the second half, C-N's defense held the Lady Tornadoes to just six points in the lane and 26.7 percent shooting.
"I think we had confidence tonight," C-N head coach Mike Mincey said. "We got a lot of good looks around the basket. When you're getting good looks from the post, you can usually dominate inside the paint."
C-N outrebounded Brevard 52-35, and was especially successful limiting second-chance baskets, grabbing 35 defensive boards. Depew finished with seven points and seven rebounds and junior forward Courdne Miles (Burlington, N.C.) had six.
The Lady Eagles led 40-25 at the half. The second period was a defensive struggle with both teams combining for just eight points over the first eight minutes. With the game becoming a grind, Williams, Moody and sophomore guard Rechelle Dye (Greeneville, Tenn.) produced hard-won points, pushing the Lady Eagles' lead to 20 with just over seven minutes to go. Moody finished the game with 16 points. Dye had 12.
Carson-Newman extended its lead at the foul line as the Lady Tornadoes fought to stay in the game. The Lady Eagles shot 77.8 percent from the stripe in the game, with Dye leading the team going 6-for-7.
Brevard put two players in double figures, but not a single starter. The Lady Eagles held starting guard Asheley Watkins without a single point in the game in spite of her 21 minutes on the floor. Forward Lacy Singletary was the only Lady Tornadoes starter to reach six points.
"They're very guard-oriented and do a lot of screens and hand-offs," Mincey said. "We started off swithing off hand-offs. It kind of took them out of their flow. We did a good job of keeping them out of the paint and made them shoot over us."
Reserve forward Taylor Hiatt and guard Holli Flippo did most of the damage for Brevard. Hiatt finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. Flippo scored 11 points, but fouled out of the game in the second period.
The Lady Eagles will return to Holt Fieldhouse Saturday to face Lenoir-Rhyne at 2 p.m.. The Lady Bears are 10-3 overall and 2-1 in the conference. Brevard travels to Mars Hill College on Saturday afternoon.