January 15, 2013

Lady Eagles travel to Mars Hill

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles basketball team (8-3, 2-2 South Atlantic Conference) will begin their first of back-to-back contests on the road by facing the Mars Hill Lions (3-9, 0-4 South Atlantic Conference) at Stanford Arena in Mars Hill, N.C. on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. The Lady Eagles are coming off of a 57-39 victory over Newberry on Saturday at Holt Fieldhouse, while Mars Hill lost to Wingate 69-62 in last Saturday’s action.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles basketball team (8-3, 2-2 South Atlantic Conference) will begin their first of back-to-back contests on the road by facing the Mars Hill Lions (3-9, 0-4 South Atlantic Conference) at Stanford Arena in Mars Hill, N.C. on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.

The Lady Eagles are coming off of a 57-39 victory over Newberry on Saturday at Holt Fieldhouse, while Mars Hill lost to Wingate 69-62 in last Saturday's action.

"After losing our first two road games in conference to Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum, we're looking to finally get a road win, so we know we have a big challenge ahead of us," said Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey. "Mars Hill has been playing well of late, only losing by single digits to Lincoln Memorial and Wingate this past Saturday."

Against Newberry, the Lady Eagles began the game on an 11-0 run and never looked back, never trailing in the contest while holding the Wolves to a season-low 39 points. Carson-Newman was led in scoring by Shyra Clark's 14 points, as she has scored 31 total points in the last two games after scoring 17 against Tusculum on Wednesday. Freshman Jai Jai McLaughlin joined Clark in double figures by scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds.

The Lady Eagles continue to be led in scoring by freshman Tatum Burstrom, who is averaging 12.6 points per game and leads the team with her 31 made three-pointers this season. Clark is the only other Lady Eagle averaging double-digit points with her 11.3 points per game.

Mars Hill is in the midst of a four-game losing streak that began on Dec. 29 in a loss to Columbus State, a team that Carson-Newman beat 62-61 on Nov. 20. The Lions' losing streak includes setbacks to: Columbus State, Newberry, Lincoln Memorial, and Wingate. Last season Mars Hill won both meetings against Carson-Newman, winning in Jefferson City 87-76 on Jan. 18 and in Mars Hill 83-73 on Feb. 15.

The Lions are led in scoring by forward Armeka Booker, who is averaging 17.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Also averaging double-digit scoring for the Lions is guard Ansley Ricker with her 13.3 points per game. Mars Hill was picked to finish ninth out of tenth in the preseason SAC coaches poll.

"We've got a real challenge ahead of us and you can't look at the records on this one," said Mincey. "We know that they can play and have good players so we have to do a good job with the game plan."

Coverage of the game is available on the Coca-Cola Eagle Sports Network, beginning with the Farm Bureau Countdown to Tipoff at 5:45 p.m. and the broadcast is also available on www.cneagles.com.