Lady Eagles, Railsplitters meet for rubber match in Round of 32
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Fifth-seeded Carson-Newman (22-10) collides with top-seeded and fifteenth-ranked Lincoln Memorial (26-4) in the NCAA Southeast Regional Semifinals on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. inside Tex Turner Arena.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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14 | 18 | 21 | 16 | 69 |
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16 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 55 |
VIDEO: C-N vs #12 Columbus State NCAA Tournament Opening Round Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Fifth-seeded Carson-Newman (22-10) collides with top-seeded and fifteenth-ranked Lincoln Memorial (26-4) in the NCAA Southeast Regional Semifinals on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. inside Tex Turner Arena.
By defeating Columbus State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Carson-Newman has now won an NCAA Tournament game for the third straight season. In 24 total postseason games since Division II, Carson-Newman is 11-13 and has now won its first-round contest seven times. With a win Saturday night, Carson-Newman can clinch its fourth-ever regional championship appearance.
The Lady Eagles will be facing a ranked team for the 10th time this season on Saturday night. They are 4-5 against ranked team foes this season. Saturday's matchup will be C-N's eighth meeting in the NCAA Tournament against a ranked team, and it is 2-5 all-time.
Saturday's night matchup between the Lady Eagles and Railsplitters will be the 101st all-time meeting but just the first ever in the NCAA Tournament. The two sides have seven all-time postseason meetings, four in the SAC Tournament, two in the NAIA District 26 Tournament and one in the VSAC Tournament. C-N is 2-5 in the postseason versus LMU.
Carson-Newman and Lincoln Memorial both defended their home courts in the regular season matchups. C-N won the first meeting of the year 76-58, exactly two months ago. Just under a month later on February 11th, LMU split the season series by winning 62-51. That sets up this rubber match in the NCAA Tournament.
All-SAC forward Mattie Nuckolls (Chatsworth, Ga.) has been of the best defenders in the SAC this season. She leads the league in with 64 blocks, the fourth-most in a single-season in program history. For her career, she has 112 rejections, sixth-best in program history. Nuckolls is just nine away from moving into the top five. Offensively, the junior forward has scored 20 or more points four times this season, including twice in her last three games.
In 61 career games with C-N, Jennifer Sullivan (Knoxville, Tenn.) has made 142 three-pointers, the eighth-most in program history. The sharpshooter is 16 more triples away from Kayla Marosites for seventh on the three-point shooting list. Sullivan's 40.5 career three-point percentage is third-best all-time in program history. This season, she has drilled 81 triples which leads the SAC and is third-most in a single-season in school history.
Lincoln Memorial earned the top overall seed in the Southeast region for the first time in program history. It's the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2016-17 season. The Railsplitters defeated eighth-seeded Lees-McRae 68-53 in the opening round on Friday night for their first ever NCAA Tournament win. That improved their record to 26-4 for the year and kept them an unbeaten 14-0 in Harrogate.
LMU has won 17 straight home games, the second-longest active home-winning streak in DII.
The Railsplitters are led by SAC Player of the Year and D2CCA Region Player of the Year Kamil Collier. The senior forward has 20 double-doubles this season including nine in her last 12 games. The eighth-best rebounder in DII grabs 11 per game to go along with a team-high 18.2 points per game. Collier has been surrounded by quality three-point shooting this season as well. LMU's nine threes per game is tied for the fifth-most in DII this season.
Defensively, LMU has been stout all year. Only nine teams this season have shot better than 40 percent from the field, against a defense that allows just 55.8 points per contest.
Tip off between fifth-seeded Carson-Newman and top-seeded and fifteenth-ranked Lincoln Memorial from Tex Turner Arena in Harrogate, Tennessee is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Coverage on Friday with the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:15 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.
Team Stats
#15 Lincoln Memorial
| Game Statistics | Carson-Newman | #15 Lincoln Memorial |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (23-51) | (20-51) |
| Field Goal % | 45.1% | 39.2% |
| Rebounds | 30 | 27 |
| Assists | 9 | 15 |
| Turnovers | 12 | 17 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 26 | 4 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 3 | 4 |
| Pts in the Paint | 26 | 26 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 9 | 2 |
| Bench Pts | 2 | 3 |
