VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman has not lost back-to-back games this season and once again is looking to bounce back from a South Atlantic Conference loss Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Holt Fieldhouse when Lenoir-Rhyne comes to Mossy Creek.

The Lady Eagles (7-3, 1-3 SAC) are coming off of a 13-point loss at Catawba on Wednesday, their largest margin of defeat, and will face a team in Lenoir-Rhyne (2-6, 1-3 SAC) that is looking to right the ship early in the year.

"Maybe they have been snake bit this year and haven't shot the ball well but boy they are athletic," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "I really like their team. I like how hard they play. Just because they haven't won as many games as I'm sure they would have liked you can still see that they are playing really hard. They will come over here to try to take it to us. If we're not ready to play it can kind of be the same scenario as Catawba."

Saturday marks the 69th all-time meeting between Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne as the Lady Eagles hold a 42-26 lead in the series despite falling in three of the last four contests. Mincey has not faced a school more times than Lenoir-Rhyne as the fifth-year coach holds a 3-7 record against the Bears.

The Lady Eagles never led in a 68-62 loss at Shuford Gymnasium on Feb. 7th, 2015 and trailed 42-28 at halftime. Carson-Newman cut the deficit to 63-60 with 32 seconds to play but free throws and offensive rebounds closed out the game.

Guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) was one of two players to finish in double figures for Carson-Newman with 11 points, three steals and three assists.

The Bears were led by Jazmine Charles who flipped in 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Both of Lenoir-Rhyne's wins this season have come on the road but four of the six defeats for the Bears have come by double digits.

Charles, a 2014-15 first-team All-SAC pick, and second-team honoree Jenni Gust have both graduated leaving a vacancy in scoring. Charles was second in the conference in 2014-15 averaging 17.5 points per game.

The Bears are ranked last in the nation with 20 converted three-point attempts this season. Their 21.1 percent conversion rate from long distance is second-worst in the country.

Scoring just 58.6 points per game, Lenoir-Rhyne is 249th nationally in that category while ranking 253rd with a 35.5 field-goal percentage and 273rd with a 61 percent mark at the free-throw line.

One thing that the Bears do at a moderate level in possess the basketball having turned it over a total 126 times this year, fourth-best in the conference.

The Bears are yielding a 43.5 percent clip from the floor, 268th in Division II, and 67 points per game, 196th in the land.

Eastern Kentucky transfer Jasmine Stafford is the lone player averaging in double figures this season with 12.4 points per game. Six different players have led the Bears in scoring in a game this season.

The game will be broadcast on the local airwaves as well as internationally on the World Wide Web beginning at 1:45 p.m. on the Eagle Sports Network. Local listeners can find the game on Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM while every person in the world can watch on cneagles.com/live.

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