WINGATE, N.C. – A 17-4 run to begin the second half propelled the Wingate Bulldogs (18-7, 16-2 South Atlantic Conference) to a 78-51 victory Saturday afternoon at Cuddy Arena over the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (16-8, 10-8 SAC).
"The way the first half went was how I expected the game to go," head coach Mike Mincey said. "I'm really proud of our effort in the first half. Wingate's a really good team and is really well coached. We come out in the second half and they just caught on fire and we couldn't guard them."
The first half featured nine ties and a pair of lead changes as each team came out with a hot hand. Carson-Newman made six of its first eight shots while Wingate converted eight of its first 13 looks at the basket.
Wingate closed the opening stanza on an 8-2 run to take its largest lead of the first half at 37-29 into the locker room. The Bulldogs took advantage of 15 free throw attempts in the initial frame by making 13 for an 87 percent clip.
Carson-Newman was led in scoring by sophomore guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) in the first half as Brooks had 10 points by going 4-for-6 from the floor.
Wingate came out firing out of the locker room using a 17-4 run in the first 5:13 of the second stanza to take a 54-33 advantage. The Bulldogs made 10 of their first 13 shot attempts to begin the second half.
"We came out in zone just as a one-time thing and we get a missed shot, but an offensive rebound," Mincey said. "That starts the half on the wrong foot. Defensively we didn't do anything a whole lot different. We were going to try to keep them from getting into the one iso play which we didn't do a good job of."
Carson-Newman was able to get the lead cut to 17, but the Bulldogs were once again ready to respond. A 14-5 run saw the lead for the home team balloon to 74-45 with under five minutes to play in the game.
The Bulldogs shot 63 percent in the second half while tallying the highest field goal percentage against Carson-Newman this season at 54 percent on 26 of 48 shooting.
The Lady Eagles went 8-for-30 from the floor in the second half, 27 percent while converting just 20 of 56 in the game, 36 percent.
Senior forward Jassmine Franklin (Lexington, Ky.) had 12 of Carson-Newman's 22 second half points en route to a career-high 14 points. Brooks was the only other player in double figures as she finished with 10 points.
Five players scored in double figures for Wingate led by Shelby Tricoli's 18 points. Andrea Bertrand had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Carson-Newman continues its three-game road swing with a journey to Anderson (S.C.) Wednesday evening for a 6 p.m. start with the Trojans. Pregame coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station 106.3 WPFT-FM and cneagles.com/live.
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