Lady Eagles advance in SAC Tournament with 95-81 win over Wingate
March 4, 2009
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- Mandy Mendenhall (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) fired in 22 points to lead the Carson-Newman women's basketball team to a 95-81 win over Wingate in the first round of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament Wednesday at Holt Fieldhouse.
With the win, the fourth-seeded Lady Eagles improve to 19-9 on the season and advance to the semifinals to face top-seeded Tusculum on Saturday at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, N.C. at 1 p.m. Wingate ends its season at 18-10.
"We've been pretty consistent on offense against them," Lady Eagles coach Dean Walsh said. "We just needed to get people to defend better, and I felt like we challenged shots well tonight. We had our seniors really step up and play hard for us."
Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) and Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) tallied 21 points each for the Lady Eagles, while Angela Volentine (North Platte, Neb.) netted 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win. Buford also pulled down 11 boards.
Kurie Washington (Marion, N.C.) paced Wingate with 19 points, while Brittany West (Valdese, N.C.) added 14. Senior Anna Atkinson (Marion, N.C.) finished with 12 points to close out her accomplished career.
The Lady Eagles shot 50 percent (35-of-70) from the floor, including 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from 3-point range. C-N held Wingate to 37.3 percent (28-of-75) shooting. The Lady Bulldogs hit 12-of-25 attempts from behind the arc.
C-N also won the rebounding battle 54-35, including 19 offensive rebounds. The Lady Eagles finished the game with 23 second chance points.
"Our last couple of games we've rebounded better," Walsh said. "It's been a huge emphasis for us. We are going to need that same kind of effort on Saturday to beat a very, very good Tusculum team."
Wingate held an early 12-11 lead after West sank a 3-pointer, but the Lady Eagles took control of the half with a 23-8 run capped by a Buford jumper with 5:03 remaining that gave C-N a 34-20 advantage.
The Lady Bulldogs trimmed C-N's lead down to 42-35 on a 3-pointer by West at the 2:16 mark. However, the Lady Eagles scored the next four points to take a 46-35 lead into the locker room.
Buford tallied 19 of her 21 points in the first half.
"She was running the floor well in the first half," Walsh said of Buford. "I think that allowed for some easy breakouts."
C-N opened the second half with a 17-5 run to push its lead to 59-40 on a Lindsey Eggleston (Buena Vista, Colo.) jumper with 16:21 left.
Wingate cut the Lady Eagles' lead down to eight on two different occasions, with the last being at 70-62 after Washington sank a 3-pointer at the 9:08 mark.
But C-N quickly pushed its lead back to 17 at 81-64 on a pair of made free throws by Mendenhall. The Lady Eagles held a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
