VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The North Greenville Crusaders (1-4) come to Holt Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. to close out a stretch of five of six home games to start the year for the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (5-0).

The Lady Eagles are 5-0 for the first time under head coach Mike Mincey in large part to sharing the basketball. Carson-Newman leads the South Atlantic Conference by averaging 19.8 assists per contest this year.

"We're not an isolation team," Mincey said. "We just don't put it in someone's hands and say 'go get us a basket'. We're more about a team oriented offense. They are going to be unselfish and share the ball. I'm really proud of our team because they know who has a hot hand. They know people's roles on the team, who needs to take the most shots and that kind of thing."

By spreading the wealth, the squad has seven different players averaging at least six points per game and three averaging in double figures. Carson-Newman leads the league in scoring at 76 points per game, second in field goal percentage at 44.2 percent and fourth in the three-point shooting at 33.6 percent.

Four different players have led the Lady Eagles in scoring through the first five games of the year while five players have led the team in assists.

North Greenville will challenge the guards for Carson-Newman as the Crusaders have a pair of third team All-Conference Carolinas picks in Timisty Nelson and Alisha Hope. Nelson leads the team in scoring at 16.2 points per game while Hope is second in scoring at 15.6 while leading the team in rebounding at 7.6 per contest.  

"Nelson is really a good athlete," Mincey said. "We just got finished watching film to show the kids how good of an athlete she is. She is really hard to keep from getting to the rim and really tough in transition. We have to make sure that we do a good job on the ball. With Hope, she is a good-sized guard that can hit the three. We just have to make sure we mark her in transition as well."

The Crusaders lone win this season came against King (Tenn.), but North Greenville has played a pair of regionally ranked opponents in North Georgia and Emmanuel College which were single-digit losses.

In their last outing, the Crusaders took a six point halftime lead against Emmanuel as nine different players scored in the game but 12-of-13 free throw shooting from Emmanuel sank the Crusaders.

Carson-Newman and North Greenville have never faced off in women's basketball as Saturday will be the final nonconference home game for the Lady Eagles this year.

The contest will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station 106.3 WPFT-FM beginning at 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-off" while fans can also enjoy a free high definition video stream by visiting cneagles.com/live.

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