Rivals square off as C-N visits winless Tusculum on Wednesday
December 9, 2025

Rivals square off as C-N visits winless Tusculum on Wednesday

Carson-Newman (4-3, 1-1 SAC) is set to play its second straight road game as it makes the short trip to face off with rival Tusculum (0-6, 0-2 SAC) on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. inside Pioneer Arena.

VIDEO: C-N at Tusculum Highlights Feb 2025

VIDEO: On Press Row

C-N Game Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (4-3, 1-1 SAC) is set to play its second straight road game as it makes the short trip to face off with rival Tusculum (0-6, 0-2 SAC) on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. inside Pioneer Arena.

Carson-Newman suffered its third setback of the season after losing 64-56 to #10 Coker on Saturday. After the other two losses this season, C-N has bounced back in a big way. They beat Clayton State by 48 and then beat #14 North Georgia and scored 80 points or more in both of those bounce back wins earlier this year. Since the beginning of the 2023-24 season, C-N has only lost back-to-back games on three occasions and did just once last year.

The Lady Eagles posted an 8-6 record in road games this past season, but have lost their first two road games this season. Both road losses are against ranked teams.

For the second time this season, Carson-Newman has seen a player reset their career-high in consecutive games. Scoring 19 points on Saturday, Mattie Nuckolls reset her career-high for the second straight game and was C-N's leading scorer for the first time in her career. After averaging five points per game in her first two years, Nuckolls is having a breakout junior year averaging 13.4 points and four rebounds per game to go along with 15 blocks, the third-most in the SAC.

Carson-Newman has dominated this series and that has stayed the same in recent history. The Lady Eagles have won four straight games, all of which have been by 29 points or more. Furthermore, they have won eight of the past nine meetings with the only single-digit wins being double-overtime wins in 2021 and 2023. C-N leads the all-time series 64-21 and is 27-12 at Pioneer Arena.

Tusculum is one of 22 teams in DII that is winless in the 2025-26 season. Of the six losses, five of them are by double digits and four are by more than 24 points. The Pioneers are 0-2 in conference play, suffering 27-point losses to Coker and Wingate.

The offense has been a large part of TU's struggles to begin the year. The Pioneers rank last in the SAC in points per game (52.2), field goal percentage (33.4), and in turnovers per game (27.0).

Defensively, it has not been much better allowing a league-best 77.2 points per game. TU is one of the best at defending the three-point shot, forcing opponents to shoot just 22.4% from long distance this season.

The Pioneers do not have a player averaging double-figures in scoring. Ema Nagyova is the team's highest scorer on average at 8.3 points per game and is tied for the team lead with 10 made three-pointers. Angela Gomez is the most efficient scorer, averaging 6.7 points per game on 43 percent shooting.

Dora Van Rijs paces the second-best defensive rebounding team in the conference. Van Rijs averages just under 10 rebounds per game, fourth-best in the SAC. She has grabbed at least six rebounds in all six games this season.

Tipoff with the Pioneers is set for 5:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A live camera of the broadcast crew "On Press Row" will also be available on YouTube.

Game Notes On Press Row Highlights Tickets Photos Audio Video Live stats Recap Box Score (PDF) Box Score