MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman got 10
second-half points from reigning South Atlantic Conference Player
of the Week junior guard Mandy Mendenhall
(Kingston Springs, Tenn.) and needed each one of them as the Lady
Eagles held on to defeat Maryville by a 71-68 score Wednesday
evening at Boydson Baird Gymnasium.
With the win, C-N moves to 7-0 on the year while Maryville drops
to 4-2.
“The bottom line is we found a way to win and you have
to be happy with that,” said Head Coach Dean
Walsh. "Nobody is going to look back at how much you
won by. Tonight’s the mark of a team that did what it needed
to do to pull out a win. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but
we’ll take it.”
The Lady Eagles got out to a 15-8 lead in the first 3:55 of the
game on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Cassie
Bates (Fremont, Calif.) and held a 12-point advantage at
the 11:26 mark before the Lady Scots began to battle back.
“Getting out to an early lead was probably the worst
thing that could have happened to us,” said Walsh.
“I thought our energy tonight was probably the worst
it’s been all year. Our defensive pressure was absolutely
horrendous. We didn’t do what we were supposed to do to
better prepare this team. We just weren’t very focused
tonight.”
Maryville went on a 23-11 run over the next 10:26 to tie the
contest at 35. Carson-Newman senior guard Ashley
Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) hit a jumper in the paint
with just under a minute to play to give the Lady Eagles a 37-35
lead at the break.
In the second half, the two teams fought back and forth as neither
side led by more than six points the entire period. Down 61-58, C-N
got seven straight points from freshman forward Dominique
Jackson (North Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) to take a 65-61
lead.
“Dominique was big for us, and that’s what our
freshmen have been doing on and off all year,” continued
Walsh. "We’ve had someone step up. She was huge for us
down the stretch and scored some big buckets.”
Maryville closed the gap to 69-68 with three seconds left and
forced the Lady Eagles to expend a timeout trying to inbound the
ball. C-N got the ball to Mendenhall and she sank two free throws
with 0.8 seconds to go to seal the win for the Lady Eagles.
“Todd and that bunch did an awesome job,”
added Walsh. “They wanted this game and wanted to beat us
in the worst way. That’s the way you have to be every
game.”
Mendenhall led C-N with 18 points including four three-point
baskets and added five rebounds and three steals while sophomore
forward Zoriah Williams (Calera, Ala.) tallied 13
points and seven rebounds.
Senior forward Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) came
up one point shy of her fourth double-double of the year with 12
boards (10 on the offensive glass) and nine points. Bates finished
the contest with eight points while Kyle chipped in seven points,
three steals and two assists after returning to the lineup from an
illness.
Maryville’s Alison Harmon led all scorers with 25 points as
she went 11-for-12 from the floor and added nine rebounds. Janell
Menard registered 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three
steals while Alicia Brown posted a game-high 10 assists and added
five points for the Lady Scots.
Carson-Newman will open SAC play on Saturday when it travels to
Harrogate, Tenn., to take on Lincoln Memorial in its fourth
straight game away from home in a road trip that covers five weeks.
Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m., at Tex Turner Arena.
“We are the road warriors,” concluded Walsh.
“We lost last year there. We are going to have to get
ready to play. LMU is extremely athletic. We have been focusing
this year to where every game is a new season and we have 27
seasons. I told them at the end of the game season seven will not
be used for reruns. Let’s get ready for season eight on
Saturday.”
- Joe Matthews, C-N Sports Information