Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles begin the year with an exhibition contest in Chapel Hill, N.C. against Division I opponent No. 13 North Carolina Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. at Carmichael Arena.

Wednesday's night game will mark the eighth year and seventh straight that Carson-Newman challenges itself against an elite Tar Heels club prior to facing the University of Tennessee to round out its yearly exhibition battles.

"Tennessee and North Carolina are so big and athletic that we go into those games feeling that we need to have certain things in place that maybe we wouldn't worry about against a Division II team," head coach Mike Mincey said. "It's somewhat stressful because you never know what they are going throw at you. We just want to see who is willing to compete. If you can go on that stage and get some things done then we know that you can get it done against the Division II level."

The Lady Eagles will face off against North Carolina head coach and 1974 Carson-Newman graduate Sylvia Hatchell. The 1998 Carson-Newman Athletic Hall of Fame inductee enters her 29^th season in Chapel Hill with an impressive resume. The member of the 2013 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class is one of three women to have 900 career wins while guiding North Carolina to three national championship and eight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament titles.

Last year's meeting saw the Lady Eagles fall 111-50 as 10 players scored in the contest. Carson-Newman took advantage of an aggressive defense in the first half getting to the foul line to attempt 19 free throws. Junior forward Taylor Peterson (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) led the way with eight points and two rebounds.

Carson-Newman returns 70 percent of its scoring and 76 percent of its rebounding. Junior guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) and sophomore forward Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) were the top two leading scorers a year ago and earned preseason second team All-South Atlantic Conference honors this season.

The Tar Heels expect to battle for the ACC crown in a very talented league. UNC was picked fourth in the preseason coaches poll while putting three players on the preseason All-Conference team. Junior forward Xylina McDaniel leads the group after averaging 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Allisha Gray was a Full Court second team All-American last year and is the leading returning scoring for Hatchell with 13.9 points per game. Sophomore forward Stephanie Mavunga rounds out the group after averaging 10.7 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

North Carolina will have to replace ACC first team pick and league freshman of the year Diamond Deshields who transferred to Tennessee over the summer after averaging 18 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals.

The game will broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network's flagship WPFT-FM 106.3 and cneagles.com/live beginning at 5:45 with "The Countdown to Tipoff".

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