VIDEO: Kailyn Brooks Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman forced 13 turnovers as Coker went 12:08 of action between the second and third quarters without a point in a sequence that saw the Lady Eagles go on a 29-0 run in an 88-49 victory at Holt Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon.
"I think it sped the tempo up a little bit," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said of the press employed during the stretch. "We got a few turnovers out of it. When you get going like that and you can score out of it and turn those turnovers into points it ignites the basketball team. When we're scoring like that it carries over into how we play defensively."
The 39-point margin of victory is the most against a South Atlantic Conference team since a 50-point drubbing of Brevard on Jan. 20, 2010, 114-64, and the largest differential in a win since a 40-point win over Erskine, 85-45, on Nov. 10, 2012.
Coker failed to have a player score in double figures in the contest as it's the first time a Carson-Newman opponent failed to have a player in double digits since Livingstone on Nov. 25, 2006 in a 76-46 C-N win.
Carson-Newman (12-4, 6-4 SAC) tallied 15 steals in the game marking the first time since Jan. 22, 2014 at Tusculum, 16, that the Lady Eagles had at least 15 pilfers in a contest. Coker (6-10, 5-5 SAC) committed 33 turnovers, the most since Mars Hill turned it over 36 times on Jan. 7, 2015.
The Lady Eagles went 26-for-31 at the free throw line making 25 shots or more at the charity stripe for the first time since a loss to Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC semifinals on March 8, 2014 when the Lady Eagles made 28.
Carson-Newman closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run in the final 1:07 of the frame making its final four field goals. A three-pointer from junior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) capped the scoring run as the junior scored 11 points in the opening 10 minutes. The Lady Eagles scored 10 points off of turnovers and went 8-for-10 from the free throw line. Coker started the contest with a 9-3 lead but Carson-Newman used free throws to hang around as it started 2-for-10 from the floor in the game.
Coker cut the Carson-Newman lead to four points at 31-27 when the turnover barrage began for the Cobras as the visiting group would get just five field goal attempts the rest of the half. A 17-0 spurt for Carson-Newman to conclude the frame gave the home team a 48-27 lead at the break.
The second half saw Coker shoot 25 percent, 9-for-36, from the floor and convert just 1 of 6 at the free throw line as the Cobras scored just 22 points in the final 20 minutes of action. Carson-Newman's bench contributed 29 of the 30 points the Lady Eagles scored in the second stanza. The Lady Eagles bench contributed 46 points, the most in any game this season.
For the third consecutive home game, five players scored at least 10 points for the Lady Eagles as Brooks led the way with 19 points in 20 minutes of action. Redshirt-sophomore guard Katie Stubblefield reset her career-high finishing with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Senior guard Taylor Peterson (Mount Juliet, Tenn.), junior forward Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) and freshman guard Ashton Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) chipped in 10 points each.
"I love sharing the basketball," Brooks said. "I like looking at the stat sheet at the end of the game and seeing that we have three or four people in double digits. It's a reflection of how complete our team really is."
Carson-Newman gets on the bus Wednesday to travel to 14th-ranked Anderson (S.C.) for a 6 p.m. start against the Trojans. Broadcast coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on 106.3 WPFT-FM with the Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off on the Eagle Sports Network.
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