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Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Senior guard Tatum Burstrom is two made three-pointers away from setting the record for a Carson-Newman women's basketball player as the Lady Eagles travel to Charlotte, N.C. for a 2 p.m. tip-off against Queens (N.C.).
The Maryville, Tenn. native would move into fifth place on the South Atlantic Conference's all-time three-pointers made list passing one of her assistant coaches for her first three seasons, Ashley Tipton who made 222 triples from 2005-09.
Burstrom ranks in 38th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage while leading the league with a mark of 44.8 percent. She is also third in the country by making 3.75 shots from long distance per game this season.
Carson-Newman (6-2, 0-2 SAC) is seeking its first win conference having lost back-to-back games to begin league play since at least 2000.
"The two losses in conference play are still stinging us a little bit because we know we are better than that," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "To take nothing away from LMU and Newberry, they beat us, but we do feel like they were winnable games. To give up both of them and to be tied basically for dead last in our league is not something we are accustomed to and so now we do truly need to work our way from the bottom-up."
The only meetings between Carson-Newman and Queens have come since the Royals joined the conference prior to the 2013-14 season. The Lady Eagles swept the series last season while the Royals swept the series in 2014.
In the last meeting at the Levine Center, Carson-Newman held Queens scoreless for over six minutes late in the second half to earn a 57-50 victory. Kailyn Brooks led all scorers with 17 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
The Royals have lost five straight games, four by at least 14 points, after beginning the year 2-1. Saturday's game will be the first home SAC contest for the Royals after losses at Newberrry, Anderson (S.C.) and Coker over the last two weeks.
"They play really hard," Mincey said. "They play as hard as anyone we have played. We are going to see that throughout the game whether they get up or we get up they bring the same intensity. We haven't seen a lot of zone this year and I kind of have the feeling that we will probably see some from them."
Scoring the basketball is once again at the forefront for Queens who ranks 273rd out of 300 Division II schools by scoring 56.4 points per game on the year.
It's not much better on the defensive end of the floor as the Royals are 10th-worst in the nation in field goal percentage defense allowing opponents to shoot 45.4 percent including 40.5 percent from three-point range, the second-worst mark of any team at the Division II level.
The Royals are losing the battle on the boards this season getting outrebounded by an average of eight per night ranking 282nd nationally.
Carmen Richardson has been one of the individual bright spots leading the team and ranking sixth in the SAC with 14.4 points per game this season having scored in double figures in six of her team's first eight games.
The game will be broadcast on Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM and cneagles.com/live beginning at 1:45 p.m. with the Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off on the Eagle Sports Network.
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