Sticktoitive Lady Eagles charge back to upend Wolves
December 11, 2021

Sticktoitive Lady Eagles charge back to upend Wolves

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Trailing by eight points after three quarters, Carson-Newman scored the first six points of the fourth and outscored Newberry 28-16 over the final 10 minutes to secure a 77-73 comeback victory over the Wolves in South Atlantic Conference play Saturday at Eleazer Arena.

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Campbell Penland Interview

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Trailing by eight points after three quarters, Carson-Newman scored the first six points of the fourth and outscored Newberry 28-16 over the final 10 minutes to secure a 77-73 comeback victory over the Wolves in South Atlantic Conference play Saturday at Eleazer Arena.

"Newberry had a great game plan against us offensively," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We didn't adjust to how the game was being played from a physicality standpoint. It took us a while to get there. Credit Newberry, they hadn't been shooting the ball well and certainly not from three and they hit 13 today. I am so proud of our kids because we got down eight and we looked like we were dead in the water. We had changed things up throughout the game. We went back to the press and Abby Wilson came in and gave us monster minutes from a defensive perspective, a hustle perspective and she gave us seven points."

Carson-Newman (8-2, 6-1) wins an 11th straight meeting against Newberry (2-7, 2-5) winning a fourth straight road game to begin the season. The Lady Eagles converted on 11 of 15 foul shots in the final period and 78 percent overall in the game.

Despite a season-high 20 turnovers that led to 18 Newberry points, the Orange and Blue forced 14 turnovers in the final 10 minutes and finished with 25 points off of giveaways.

Four Lady Eagles finished in double figured led by 16 apiece from Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) and Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.). Wykle chipped in three steals and three boards while Taylor added seven caroms, three helpers and two pilfers.

Skylar Boshears (LaFollette, Tenn.) threw in 14 points with five rebounds and Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a steal. Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) made every shot she took scoring eight points with three rebounds and two steals.

"We haven't really gotten off to a great start the last few games," Penland said. "We come back in the second half and we do it whatever it takes to win. We do the best we can and come out with a win. I knew that the first half was behind me so I focused on the things I needed to do to help my team get the win."

Boshears scored each of the first seven points for the visitors to build up a 7-2 edge before the Wolves scored five in a row to tie it. Teams traded buckets the rest of the frame to keep the tally level at 15 after a period.

During a stretch where it made five of six shots from the floor, the Lady Eagles built up a 30-23 lead with 3:36 to play before the break. The Wolves responded by scoring six straight and closed the half on a 7-2 burst to trim the tally to 32-30 at halftime. C-N failed to score over the final 2:08 of the half.

Spanning the half, the Lady Eagles went nearly six minutes without points watching the Wolves score eight unanswered in the third using a 19-5 burst to go on top 42-35 with 5:50 to play in the frame. The Lady Eagles closed within two but the Wolves could not miss in the period with Talia Roberts hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the quarter and give the home crew a 57-49 lead going into the fourth.

Carson-Newman was outscoring opponents by 83 points on the year in the third quarter but Newberry made nine of 15 shots and six of nine from long range to build up the largest C-N deficit of the year after three.

The Lady Eagles scored the first six points of the fourth and behind an 8-0 burst battled back to cut the margin to a 64-63 midway through the period on a trifecta by Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.). Thanks to a 15-3 spurt, C-N captured the lead on a jumper by Wilson and took the edge for good on a layup by Taylor. Mincey's unit connected at the foul line to hold off the Wolves and complete the comeback.

The Wolves entered the game shooting the eighth-worst field-goal percentage in the country but finished with 48 percent from the field making 13 of 29 from deep including nine of 16 in the second half. C-N led the battle of the glass 33-32 after the home club was seventh nationally in caroms.

Courtney Virgo was averaging three points per game entering play but erupted for 17 connecting on as many triples in the game as she had during the year, five. She added five rebounds.

Talia Roberts tallied 14 points and Giulia Bongiorno registered 13 points, seven assists and five boards.

The Lady Eagles return to Holt Fieldhouse for the final time in 2021 on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. with Mars Hill coming to town. Broadcast coverage airs on the Eagle Sports Network starting at 5:15 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.

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