Back-to-back games highlight December weekend
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman starts the stretch run prior to the holiday break with a home game against Limestone in South Atlantic Conference action Saturday at 2 p.m. before travelling to Liberty for a tip-off 24 hours later playing three games in five days.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
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13 | 27 | 22 | 20 | 82 |
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23 | 24 | 18 | 22 | 87 |
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20 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 60 |
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20 | 22 | 28 | 15 | 85 |
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman starts the stretch run prior to the holiday break with a home game against Limestone in South Atlantic Conference action Saturday at 2 p.m. before travelling to Liberty for a tip-off 24 hours later playing three games in five days.
"It's three games in five days without a lot of time to scout," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "It's good for our basketball team because you go from a zone team that is a little smaller with good foot speed. Then you go play Liberty who is going to have good size. Our bigs have had more success playing when the other team is playing another six-three or bigger post player.
"Then you basically have one day to practice after playing two games back to back who also has a good inside-out presence. There will be challenges in each game and that's what we like. Limestone was an NCAA Tournament team, Liberty won 20 games and North Georgia was an NCAA Tournament team. We aren't playing cupcakes. These are going to be really good challenges for us."
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) is off to a hot start to her sophomore season with back-to-back 20-point scoring efforts. She has been on a torrid stretch scoring at least 20 points in 12 of her last 19 outings after starting her career with more single-digit efforts, five, than 20-point games, three, in her first 13 contests.
Carson-Newman (2-0, 2-0) is coming off of a strong rebounding performance where seven different players posted at least four rebounds. Attacking the glass was a pivotal area for the team looking to replace Kayla Marosites. The consensus All-American is second in SAC history in rebounding average, 11.2, after pulling down 26 percent of the club's overall rebounds in three years and 30 percent of the offensive caroms. Of the 10 athletes to log at least 10 minutes per game this year, seven have at least five boards and four have multiple at the offensive end.
"I think we have eight players averaging three rebounds or more," Mincey said. "We knew that was going to be the case. When you have somebody like Kayla who was averaging 12. We don't have someone more than likely that will step in and carry those minutes to have the opportunity to do that. It's going to be by committee. The more people we have rebounding on both ends of the floor, the better off we can be."
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— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) December 11, 2020
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To start the weekend the Lady Eagles take on first-year league member Limestone (2-3, 2-3) for the third all-time meeting. The Saints have won each of the first two, an 82-73 win in 2013 and a 59-49 triumph in 2011.
In the 2013 affair at Holt Fieldhouse, the Lady Eagles fell behind by 25 points at halftime before shooting 57 percent in the second half in a nine-point loss. All five starters scored in double figures with Jai Jai McLaughlin leading the way with 14 points. Ayshia McNeil led the visitors with 25 points and Jasmine Kearse came off the bench to score 18.
Limestone was picked to finish eighth in the league after posting a third-place regular-season finish in its final year in Conference Carolinas in 2019-20 before beating the top two seeds in the tournament to win its fourth title in the last seven years beating Barton 67-65.
Historically one of the best teams in the region, the Saints have been to the postseason in eight of the last nine years posting a 229-54 overall record in that stretch that features 12 total Conference Carolinas championships, two region titles in 2014 and 2015 and a pair of top-10 finishes in the national polls. The program has won at least 20 games in eight of the last nine with six seasons of at least 25 victories.
After winning two straight games, Limestone is coming off of a 70-46 loss at home to 5-0 Tusculum. It was the lowest scoring night for the program since scoring 44 against West Texas A&M in the 2014 Elite Eight.
Scoring has been a problem for the team as the Saints rank 11th in the league with 59 points per game. Set aside a 45-percent shooting night in a 35-point win over Lenoir-Rhyne and the unit has not shot better than 35 percent in any game.
Reagan McCray and Reagan Kargo are the only players averaging more than eight points per game this year posting 14 and 13 respectively. McCray has been in double figures in four of the five contests after dropping a season-high 21 points in Wednesday's loss to Tusculum.
Coach Corey Fox's team has been crushed on the glass this year being outrebounded by an average of seven per evening. They won the battle by 12 against L-R otherwise the opponent has had at least a plus-seven advantage in each of the other four games.
Defensively, Limestone has been strong limiting teams to 61 points per game, good for fourth in the league. Foes are shooting 35 percent, the third-best margin in the SAC. No team has score more than the 70 points that the Pioneers posted on two days ago.
This season ends a streak of 16 straight years that the Lady Eagles do not play the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in an exhibition game. Over the last decade, C-N has played 18 exhibition contests, 10 against the Lady Vols, six versus North Carolina and one each with East Tennessee State and Middle Tennessee State.
The Flames are led by Carey Green, one of the winningest active coaches in the nation guiding his club to an average of 23 wins per year over 21 campaigns. He has led the program to 29 total titles and a trip to the NCAA Tournament on 14 occasions.
After winning 20 games a year ago, Liberty (2-3) is trying to replace three-time all-conference pick Keyen Green who transferred to Tennessee and is in the starting lineup for Kellie Harper's club. Green was a member of the Big South All-Decade team after scoring 1,215 points and adding 673 boards and 17 double-doubles in her career.
Redshirt-senior Emily Lytle leads the team with 16 points per game posting a 30-point effort on Sunday at Memphis. She is shooting 47 percent from the field and made 11 triples. Lytle has been named to the ASUN All-Tournament team in each of the last two years. She is a perfect 13-for-13 from the free-throw line while the rest of the team is 28-for-55, 51 percent.
The Flames have been stout defensively limiting teams to 65 points per game and 34 percent shooting. They are averaging 41 rebounds per affair.
Both games will air on The Mountain 106.3 WPFT-FM with video coverage available for Saturday's tilt with Limestone on cneagles.com/live. Coverage starts at 1:45 p.m. on both days with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network.
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Team Stats
Limestone
| Game Statistics | Limestone | Carson-Newman |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (30-79) | (32-63) |
| Field Goal % | 38.0% | 50.8% |
| Rebounds | 29 | 47 |
| Assists | 20 | 22 |
| Turnovers | 12 | 20 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 17 | 16 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 8 | 11 |
| Pts in the Paint | 30 | 46 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 23 | 18 |
| Bench Pts | 8 | 24 |
Liberty
| Game Statistics | Carson-Newman | Liberty |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (21-49) | (31-65) |
| Field Goal % | 42.9% | 47.7% |
| Rebounds | 36 | 31 |
| Assists | 11 | 22 |
| Turnovers | 27 | 13 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 7 | 33 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 0 | 18 |
| Pts in the Paint | 22 | 26 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 9 | 9 |
| Bench Pts | 16 | 34 |
