VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Kailyn Brooks Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – A first half that saw the No. 18 Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (6-0) shoot 55 percent from the floor and hold the North Greenville Crusaders (1-5) to a 25 percent clip led the Lady Eagles to a 73-57 victory over the Crusaders Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.

"This is two games in a row now where we come out at home and they come out with the right mindset and right energy doing what we ask them to do," head coach Mike Mincey said. "Therefore we are getting huge leads and in this one we carry a 27-point lead into the half."

The score favored the home team at 9-8 with 16:23 remaining in the first half until the Lady Eagles offense exploded for a 27-2 run over 9:49 to take control of the game at 36-10. North Greenville started the game 3-for-5 from the floor, but closed the half by making just four of its final 23 field goal attempts.

Eight different players scored for Carson-Newman in the first half led by freshman forward Jecca Simerly (Talbott, Tenn.) who scored 10 points in the half. The Lady Eagles outscored the Crusaders 24-6 in the paint, 10-0 on second chance points and 16-2 in bench points in the half.

"We had a long talk at the half that the game is long from being over," Mincey said. "We want to go out and start the half with some goals set and I don't think we achieved any of them. For whatever reason we just lost all of our energy at that point. Other people stopped looking to score and then we lost our energy and it made it a tough game from there on out."

Carson-Newman extended its lead to as many as 33 in the early stages of the second half, but shots stopped falling for the Lady Eagles and the Crusaders were able to chip away at the lead primarily at the free throw line where North Greenville went 11-for-15 at the line in the half.

Mincey's group made four of its first six field goal attempts to start the half but cooled off considerably making just 6-of-22 from the floor the rest of the way.

The lead was 14 at 59-45 with 7:32 to play when sophomore guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) went on an 8-2 run by herself knocking down a pair of triples and a layup to get the lead back to 20 at 67-47.

"I think we started off hot and then a couple girls that were scoring kind of sizzled out a little bit," Brooks said. "I knew that I was going to have to be a scoring threat."

Simerly finished with 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting and four rebounds while Brooks scored a career-high 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

Freshman forward Allison Hodge (Blaine, Tenn.) had eight points and career-highs in rebounds and assists with eight and five respectively.

Alisha Hope led the way for North Greenville as she tallied a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds on 7-for-9 shooting from the free throw line. 

Carson-Newman will take the midweek off before taking on the Catawba Indians in Salisbury, N.C. next Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip in conference action.

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