Lady Eagles Fall Hard at Lenoir-Rhyne, 87-65
Jan. 24, 2009
HICKORY, N.C. — The Carson-Newman women's basketball team dropped a 87-65 decision to Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday night in South Atlantic Conference action at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium, snapping its five-game winning streak.
With the loss, C-N drops to 14-4 overall and 5-2 in the SAC. L-R, which extended its winning streak to five games, 
improves to 16-2 on the season and 6-1 in conference play.
The Lady Eagles committed 24 turnovers on the night, preventing them from getting into a groove on the offensive end. C-N shot 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field, while the Bears sank 53.6 percent (30-of-56) of their shots. The Lady Eagles were just 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from the free-throw line, while L-R made 23-of-27 (85.2 percent) of its attempts.
The Bears also won the battle of the boards as they outrebounded C-N 39-25, including 14 on the offensive end.
Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) was the lone Lady Eagle to reach double figures in scoring with 19 points. Kyle also had four assists and three steals. Lindsey Eggleston (Buena Vista, Colo.) and Ashley Tipton (Knoxville, Tenn.) chipped in nine points each for C-N, while Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) added eight points and seven rebounds.
Five Bears reach double figures in scoring led by an 18-point effort from Amber Holt. The junior guard also dished out nine assists and had four steals. Jami Safrit and Brittany Mitch finished with 16 points each for L-R, while Cameron Sealey tossed in 13 points in the win.
L-R grabbed an early 12-8 lead before C-N scrapped back to cut the deficit to 14-13 on a Tipton 3-pointer.
The Bears then outscored the Lady Eagles 15-9 to take a 29-22 lead on a Sealey jumper with 5:54 left in the half.
C-N was able cut the Bears' lead down to five on three different occasions, but L-R answered each time as it eventually pushed its lead to 40-30 on a layup by Kristen Fulmer with 29 seconds remaining.
Kyle sank a jumper with 14 seconds left pull the Lady Eagles to within single digits at 40-32 heading into the locker room.
L-R opened the final 20 minutes with a 7-2 run capped by a Holt layup at the 18:28 mark to give the Bears a 47-34 advantage.
The Lady Eagles fought back with a 12-4 run to cut L-R's lead to 51-46 on a Kyle 3-pointer with 14:04 remaining, but that was as close as C-N would get, as the Bears put the game away by outscoring C-N 28-9 over the next nine minutes and 56 seconds to build their biggest lead of the game at 79-55.
C-N will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 28 in a SAC matchup at Catawba. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in Salisbury, N.C.
