Mike Mincey signing day interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head women's basketball coach Mike Mincey has signed two-time TSSAA AA player of the year Elizabeth Masengil to his 2014 recruiting class. 

Masengil transfers to Carson-Newman after a year at UT Martin where she played in 28 games with 18 starts in helping the Skyhawks to OVC tournament and regular season titles and an NCAA tournament berth. 

"It's more what do you not like about her," Mincey said.  "It's hard enough to win one player of the year, let along two.  That speaks for itself.  At 5-11, she can do a lot of things both at the rim, and then stepping out and hitting jumpers." 

Masengil made an immediate impact for the Skyhawks; she was named Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week on Dec. 3 after scoring 17 points against Winthrop in the Robert Morris Classic. Those 17 points represented her career high, which she matched against SIU Edwardsville. 

She averaged 6.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals in 22.5 minutes per game and scored in double figures on five occasions.  Masengil produced 11 games with five rebounds or more.  She had a career best five steals against Missouri. 

While playing at McMinn Central in high school under coach Johnny Morgan, Masengil earned  her second AA Miss Basketball award after averaging 22.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.3 steals per game and helping lead the Chargerettes to a 29-4 record and a sectional berth.  As a junior she averaged 24.3points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game, leading her squad to their third consecutive state appearance.

Masengil is McMinn Central's all-time leading scorer with 2,599 career points and 960 career rebounds.

Masengil earned MVP honors as a sophomore in guiding McMinn to its first-ever state championship.  She was a four-time all-district and all-region selection, in addition to being named all-state on three occasions.  She was PrepXtra's Girls' Basketball Player of the Year for 2012. 

"Elizabeth adds another dimension to our team," Mincey said. "But with our early signees, we've added a lot of versatility, especially to the three and the four with some players who have some skill around the rim, but can also step out and hit threes.  I really like that and I like how we're shaping up."

Masengil joins Guard Kayla Newman (Alcoa, Tenn.), post Jessica (Jecca) Simerly (Talbott, Tenn.), and forward Allison Hodge (Blaine, Tenn.) as members of C-N's 2013-14 signing class. 

Masengil was a member of McMinn Central's Beta Club and the class of 2012's valedictorian. The daughter of Mitchell and Amy Masengil, plans to study pre-physical therapy at Carson-Newman.