Lady Eagles held to season-low in road loss to No. 21 Lincoln Memorial
February 11, 2026

Lady Eagles held to season-low in road loss to No. 21 Lincoln Memorial

HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman’s (16-7, 12-5 SAC) attempt at spoiling No. 21 Lincoln Memorial’s (19-3, 14-3 SAC) unbeaten home regular season came up short, as the Lady Eagles fell 62-51 on Wednesday evening at Tex Turner Arena.

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

HARROGATE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's (16-7, 12-5 SAC) attempt at spoiling No. 21 Lincoln Memorial's (19-3, 14-3 SAC) unbeaten home regular season came up short, as the Lady Eagles fell 62-51 on Wednesday evening at Tex Turner Arena.

Carson-Newman was held to a season-low 51 points and was limited to a season-low two made three-pointers in the loss. The 51 points are the fewest in a regular season game since a 78-51 loss to Wingate on February 14, 2015.

"They do a really good job defensively," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "They have all year and especially in here, teams have struggled to score and we are no different. I thought we had some good looks near the rim, just didn't convert. It order to break their defense apart, you have to make shots and we did that at Holt Fieldhouse but did not on the road tonight."

The Lady Eagles have now lost three straight games. It's the first time since February of 2016 that the program has lost three consecutive conference games in South Atlantic Conference play.

After missing its first four shots, C-N would begin some offensive rhythm. Caroline Hill (Kingsport, Tenn.) scored C-N's first two baskets and helped the Lady Eagles make their next five shots to trail by just one. Mattie Nuckolls (Chatsworth, Ga.) gave C-N its first lead on a layup with 2:06 left in the frame. But, LMU scored seven of the final eight points of the frame, five of which came from the line to lead by five after one quarter.

The second quarter turned into a defensive grind. Sariya Henry provided offense with the Railsplitters in foul trouble, scoring six straight to increase their lead to nine with 4:32 left in the first half. C-N's defense was stout the rest of the frame. Lincoln Memorial never scored again in the half, but the Lady Eagles made just two field goals during this stretch and trailed by three at intermission.

Carson-Newman played well to start the second half. After seeing LMU push the lead out to seven, C-N responded with eight of the next 12 points to draw within two with 2:52 left in the third. Despite drawing within a possession on multiple occasions, the Railsplitters would get the lead back out to six, scoring six of the final eight points in the quarter.

After making five baskets in the first six minutes of the second half, C-N would go on to make just five over the next 14 minutes of basketball. In a low-scoring fourth quarter, LMU made pair of triples less than a minute apart to push the advantage out to 13 with four to play. LMU never scored again, but C-N only made one more basket to suffer the 13-point loss.

Mattie Nuckolls (Chatsworth, Ga.) led C-N with 13 points on six of 13 shooting. She also led the team with four blocks.

Carson-Newman shot 33 percent, making 20 of its 61 shots. LMU was an efficient 40 percent and made five of its 17 three-point attempts.

C-N went on four separate field goal droughts of three minutes or longer.

LMU won the rebounding battle 39-30 in a game that had minimal offensive rebounding opportunities. The Railsplitters scored 13 second-chance points on seven offensive rebounds, outscoring C-N by nine in that category.

The ranked Railsplitters were led by Kamil Collier, who scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for her fifth 20-point double-double of the year. Two other players finished in double-figures for LMU as well.  

Carson-Newman returns home on Saturday for a matchup versus Wingate. Tip off with the Bulldogs is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 1:45 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.

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