JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 10 Carson-Newman shot 51.7 percent (30-for-58) from the floor Wednesday evening as it defeated Wingate by a 78-68 score at Holt Fieldhouse. With the victory the Lady Eagles move to 14-0 on the year with a 4-0 mark in South Atlantic Conference play while the Bulldogs are now 8-6 and 1-3 in league play.

“I liked the effort that our guards came with tonight,” said Head Coach Dean Walsh. “Every guard that got on the floor for us did a great job. We still need better consistency out of our post game on both ends of the court.”

Both teams battled back and forth for the majority of the first half but the Lady Eagles reeled off nine straight points to go up 28-19 with 4:26 to go before the break. Wingate closed the gap to four points at 30-25 but Carson-Newman pushed the lead back to eight for a 36-28 halftime lead.

After the intermission, the Bulldogs chipped away at the Lady Eagle lead until they were down by two with 11:46 left in the contest (49-47). Eight straight points by C-N extended the lead back to 10 and a nine-point run that covered 2:33 to take their largest lead of the contest at 68-51.

“We are still having too many lapses when we have the lead but that’s something that the coaching staff will solve,” added Walsh.

The Bulldogs were unable to cut the lead to less than 10 the rest of the way as the Lady Eagles claimed the 78-68 victory.

“Wingate is a good team and they go from rim to rim better than any team in the league,” continued Walsh. “I’m happy with the way we handled Kurie (Washington) as we held her to six points in the first 34 minutes of the game.”

Senior forward Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) registered game-highs in points (16), rebounds (13) and blocks (three) for her fourth double-double in six games. Senior guard Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) had 12 points and moved into fifth-place in school history with eight assists while junior guard Mandy Mendenhall (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) had 14 points.

Wingate was led by Kurie Washington (Marion, N.C.) and Stacie Rhodes (Knightdale, N.C.) as they chipped in 13 points apiece. C.C. Brooks (Mount Holly, N.C.) and Stefani Shuey (Charlotte, N.C.) had 11 and 10 points, respectively, as well for the Bulldogs.

“We have to get ready for a tough Tusculum team that has won 30 of its last 31 games at home,” concluded Walsh. “I believe Saturday will be our toughest test of the year. I hope our previous road games will have us battle tested for Saturday.”

Carson-Newman will travel to Greeneville, Tenn., to take on SAC-rival Tusculum College on Saturday. Tipoff at Pioneer Arena is set for 2:00 p.m.