MARS HILL, N.C. - The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles basketball team (9-3, 3-2 South Atlantic Conference) earned a 70-49 victory over the Mars Hill Lions (3-10, 0-5 South Atlantic Conference) at Stanford Arena on Wednesday evening.

The Lady Eagles led by 12 at halftime, and led by as many as 25 points in the second half as Shyra Clark (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Courdne Miles (Burlington, N.C.) scored in double figures for Carson-Newman.

"It was at a point in the second half where we decided to play," said Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey. "We started finishing around the rim, we were driving to the basket, had some big threes."

Clark led Carson-Newman in scoring for the third straight contest with her team-high 14 points, and Miles posted a season-high 12 points playing in her home state of North Carolina.

"It's always hard playing at Mars Hill," said Miles. "To come here and win with the margin that we did is really a good feeling."

The Lady Eagles shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and closed the first 20 minutes on a 10-3 run to lead at halftime 37-25. The Lions came back aggressive after halftime, going on a 7-2 run to begin the half to cut Carson-Newman's lead to five points with 14:57 left to play.

Carson-Newman answered with a run of its own, an 11-2 run to get the lead to 50-34 thanks in large part to baskets by Clark. In the final 10 minutes, Mars Hill would only get as close as 14 points down, and Carson-Newman held its largest lead at 25 with 1:26 left to play.

The win is Carson-Newman's second straight and the first win on the road in conference play. The Lady Eagles shot a season-high 47.4 percent from the field, and it was the third time this season Carson-Newman had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio at 22 assists and 17 turnovers.

Mars Hill was led in scoring by Greeneville, Tenn., native Ansley Ricker with her 14 points, and she was the only scorer in double figures for the Lions. Carson-Newman held forward Armeka Booker to seven points, a full 10 points below her 17.3 points per game average that is top-five in the conference.

Carson-Newman will next play on the road at Anderson on Saturday Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. Coverage of the game is available on the Coca-Cola Eagle Sports Network, beginning with the Farm Bureau Countdown to Tipoff at 1:45 p.m. and the broadcast is also available on www.cneagles.com.