VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Seeking their longest winning streak in five years, the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (6-0, 3-0 South Atlantic Conference) travel to Salisbury, N.C. Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. meeting with the Catawba Indians (4-3, 1-2 SAC).

The current six-game winning streak matched a six-game string from November 10 to December 5, 2012 for the longest streak since the 2009-10 team won 16 consecutive games to begin the year from November 15 to January 20.

"Playing five of six at home always helps," head coach Mike Mincey said. "We have some good experience back. It's like I tell these girls all the time, since I've been around, we've always started well. That 16-0 team, I was an assistant here for that one, we had good players and we were fortunate to win some close games."

Carson-Newman has won its last three games by double digits while leading for 114:30 of the 120 possible minutes in those contests. The Lady Eagles have been one of the most proficient teams in the conference to begin the season. Mincey's squad leads the SAC with 75.5 points per game and a 44.4 field goal percentage while ranking fourth in three-point percentage at 33.6 percent.

Three players rank in the top-10 in assists per game in the league. Junior guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) is fourth with 3.3 assists per outing while senior guard Lacy Miller (Dandridge, Tenn.) and junior guard Jai Jai McLaughlin (Knoxville, Tenn.) are ninth with three helpers per game.

Defensively, the Lady Eagles are third in the SAC in field goal percentage defense at 38.1 and second in rebounding margin by outrebounding opponents by an average of 6.3 per contest.

"Those stats are kind of elevated," Mincey said. "We like our team, but we feel like we need to work on our man-to-man defense. We don't run a lot of zone, but it's been good for us. Our man-to-man, getting into help-side defense and boxing out are still things if we want to be at the top of our league, we really have to improve upon."

The Lady Eagles played five of their first six contests at Holt Fieldhouse with the lone journey coming at Tusculum in a game that Carson-Newman won 88-79 on November 19 and travel to a gym where Catawba won 56-47 a season ago.

In that game Burstrom was the lone player to crest double figures by finishing with 10 points while the Indians were led by 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting by Chloe Bully. Carson-Newman trailed by one at the break but shot just 30 percent in the second half.

Catawba has lost three of its last four games after starting the year 3-0 as two-time first team All-SAC selection Chloe Bully has had to shoulder most of the load. Bully is averaging 14.6 points per game this year while the next highest scorer, Terri Rogers, is averaging eight points a contest.

Saturday's meeting marks the 60^th time the two programs will compete against each other with Catawba holding a 35-24 advantage. The two schools split the regular season meeting last year, but Carson-Newman took an 82-68 decision at Holt Fieldhouse in the SAC Tournament Quarterfinals.

Fans can catch the audio broadcast of the event by tuning into the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station 106.3 WPFT-FM at 1:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-off".

- CN -