JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles basketball team will continue their exhibition schedule by facing the no. 16 Tennessee Lady Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

This is the ninth consecutive year the Lady Eagles and Lady Vols have met, in a series that dates back to 1920. The Lady Vols have scored at least 100 points in seven of the last eight meetings, and Carson-Newman's last win against Tennessee was a 36-16 victory in Knoxville on Feb. 9, 1925.

The Lady Eagles fell in their first exhibition contest 106-29 to North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., with junior guard Shyra Brown (Cleveland, Tenn.) leading the way with nine points and five rebounds. Carson-Newman looks to improve on a 16.4 field goal percentage from the UNC game, along with shooting just over 10 percent from three-point land.

Last season Carson-Newman stayed with Tennessee through the first six minutes, yet the Lady Vols would go onto win 105-40 in front of 11,500 fans at Thompson-Boling Arena in the first game of the Mike Mincey era of Carson-Newman women's basketball.

The Lady Vols will begin the season ranked no. 20 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll and no 16 in the USA Today Sports/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Preseason Poll. Tennessee was picked to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference media poll. This game is also the first for Holly Warlick as head coach of the Lady Volunteers after she spent the last 27 years as an assistant and associate head coach for Pat Summitt, who is now head coach emeritus at Tennessee. 

The Lady Eagles will round out exhibition play against East Tennessee State in Johnson City on Nov. 3 at 1:30 p.m.

The regular season will begin with a trip to Harrogate for the SAC-Conference of the Carolinas Challenge, where the Lady Eagles will face Coker and Erskine from Nov. 9-10.

Fans can listen to the game on the Coca-Cola Eagle Sports Network, with coverage beginning with the Farm Bureau Countdown to Tipoff at 6:45 p.m. and www.cneagles.com.