Carson-Newman Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles basketball team (11-5, 5-4 South Atlantic Conference) will continue a two-game road swing by facing the Wingate Bulldogs (10-9, 4-5 South Atlantic Conference) at Cuddy Arena in Wingate, N.C., on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

The Lady Eagles are coming off of a 71-53 victory over Brevard, and Carson-Newman enters Saturday play tied for fourth place in the South Atlantic Conference standings.

"I was really happy with our basketball team and how we performed on Wednesday," said Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey.

Against Brevard, junior Shyra Clark (Cleveland, Tenn.) scored a career-high 19 points and collected her third double-double of the season with 14 rebounds. Clark paces the Lady Eagles in scoring by averaging 12.1 points per game, and in conference play she is averaging 13.6 points per game. Also with a double-double for the Lady Eagles was senior Courdne Miles (Burlington, N.C.) with her season-high 14 points and 11 rebounds, and she has now scored double-digit points in four of Carson-Newman's last five games.

"Having two players get a double-double in the same game is kind of unusual, but their rebounding and point production was huge for us," said Mincey.

Carson-Newman and Wingate split the season series a year ago, with Wingate winning 74-55 at Cannon
2011 while Carson-Newman picked up a 71-66 win at Holt Fieldhouse on Feb. 4, 2012. Carson-Newman has won three of the past four regular season meetings with the Bulldogs, and the last win for C-N at Wingate came on Feb. 5, 2011, an 87-83 triumph.

Wingate enters Saturday's play tied for sixth place with Tusculum in the league standings at 4-5 in SAC play. The Bulldogs have lost two of their last three games, yet picked up a 77-56 win over Catawba at home last Wednesday.

The Bulldogs, coached by Ann Hancock, were picked to finish first in the SAC preseason coaches poll, with junior guard Janitsha Williams named to the preseason All-SAC second team. Williams leads the team by averaging 13.5 points per game, and forward Chantal Dunbar averages a double-double with her 10.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.

"Wingate is a very good basketball team," said Mincey. "They're really athletic, they're big, they rebound very well and we know we're going to have our hands full as we try to keep them off the glass."

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.