OWENSBORO, Ky. – The tenth-ranked Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (11-0) held the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers (6-5) to 26 percent shooting from the floor in a 76-45 victory, the largest margin of victory on the year, Saturday evening at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
"We feel like a team needs to play a full 40 minutes in order to beat us," head coach Mike Mincey said. "The thing I like about our team even though I had to call a timeout, they responded."
Kentucky Wesleyan scored the first nine points of the basketball game, but then went ice cold from the floor making just 1 of its next 15 shot attempts. The Lady Eagles used a 21-2 run from the 15:45 mark of the first half to the 5:40 mark to take a 21-11 advantage courtesy of a three-pointer from freshman forward Allison Hodge (Blaine, Tenn.).
Carson-Newman held Kentucky Wesleyan to 22 percent shooting from the floor in the opening frame while forcing 10 turnovers to take a 33-18 lead to the locker room. Junior guard Jai Jai McLaughlin (Knoxville, Tenn.) had six points and eight rebounds while senior forward Whitney Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) led all scorers with seven points to go along with three rebounds.
Carson-Newman scored 10 of the first 13 points of the second half to extend its lead, a lead that was never lower than 16 points in the final frame. Once again, the Lady Eagles stifled the Panthers as the home team shot 32 percent from the floor in the second stanza.
Kyle led all scorers with 14 points to go along with four rebounds and two steals. McLaughlin had her first double-double of the season as she finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Senior guard Lacy Miller (Dandridge, Tenn.) finished with a season-high 10 points while setting new career marks with seven assists and five steals.
"[Mincey] kind of got onto us," Miller said. "He said we needed to pick up the intensity and that's what we did. We put pressure on the ball which caused me as an individual to get some steals in the backcourt and it just brought everything together."
Carson-Newman forced a season-high 25 turnovers on a season-high 13 steals.
Kentucky Wesleyan was led by Bria Wright's double-double of 11 points and ten rebounds.
"We know that we have a very tough next two months," Mincey said. "Some of the tougher teams in our league are coming up. We understand that. We just have to get back on Monday the 29th and prepare."
The Lady Eagles will take two weeks off for Christmas break and return to action on January 3 at Holt Fieldhouse to take on South Atlantic Conference foe, Wingate, at 2 p.m.
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