VIDEO: Tatum Burstrom Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In a game of runs, the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (16-7, 10-7 South Atlantic Conference) used a 16-0 run stretching from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second half to defeat the Brevard Tornados (7-14, 5-12 SAC) 75-62 Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
"The ones we have left know that they've had two good days of practice," head coach Mike Mincey said. "They know what happened the last four games. They want to win as bad as anybody. To get to come back home and to play a team that has already beaten us, they had a really good mindset coming out."
The first half was filled with a slew of runs for each team. Carson-Newman used a 13-0 run that began with a pair of three-pointers from junior guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) to take a 17-8 lead that was immediately answered by an 11-0 run by Brevard.
With Carson-Newman leading 25-23, the Tornados used a 9-2 spurt to take a 32-27 edge, but the Lady Eagles finished the first half on a 7-0 run capped a by a wide open triple from the right wing by Burstrom to give the home team a 34-32 advantage heading to the locker room.
"We were down so we needed to get back the lead which we did," Burstrom said. "[Pippin] drove in there pretty good and kicked it out and I just hit it for our team."
Neither team shot above 40 percent in the first half as Burstrom had nine points in the first half to match sophomore guard Carly Pippin (Sevierville, Tenn.) who also had nine points in the first half to set a new career-high for Pippin.
The Lady Eagles added to the end of the first half run by starting the second half on a 9-0 run to go on top 43-32. The defensive effort of Carson-Newman was a big reason why Brevard couldn't make a run as the Tornados made just 3 of their first 14 field goal attempts to begin the second half.
Burstrom buried her sixth triple of the game with 4:18 to play in the game to make it a 70-55 game as the junior capped her 20-point outing with that shot. The Maryville, Tenn. pulled into a tie with Kandi Duncan for second on the school's all-time three-pointers made list with her 180th career long distance connection.
A layup by sophomore forward Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) with 2:31 to play in the game gave the home team its largest lead of the game at 74-55. Cupples had 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for the Lady Eagles.
Carson-Newman outrebounded the Tornados 53-33 in the contest allowing just 10 offensive rebounds as it was the second time this season that the Lady Eagles outrebounded an opponent by 20 or more.
"We challenged them the last few days," Mincey said. "We even had a really physical practice. Typically you don't do that this time of year. I think they responded and did a really good job tonight."
Junior forward Taylor Peterson (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) set new career-highs with 16 points and seven assists to go along with five rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting from the floor.
Brevard was led by Madison Lenox who had 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. The Tornados's leading scorer, Katie Williams, was held to six points on 2 of 8 shooting in the game.
"It's huge for us," Burstrom said. "We look down the bench and we think 'it's just us' so we don't have anyone else to help us. Hustle points and scrapping is really big. I feel like here down the stretch, to beat these good teams, we need to play physical."
Carson-Newman begins a three-game road trip Saturday afternoon with a journey to Wingate for a 2 p.m. tip-off. Pregame coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station 106.3 WPFT-FM or by visiting cneagles.com/live for the audio stream.
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