Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman welcomes Lincoln Memorial to Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. looking to avoid its first winning streak of the 2015-16 season.

The Lady Eagles (13-5, 7-5 South Atlantic Conference) have been excellent this season following losses winning games after a loss by 21, 29, 20 and 18. Carson-Newman has won 10 of the last 11 meetings with Lincoln Memorial at Mossy Creek.

"I think everybody in the league understands that the last 10 games are an important stretch especially when you're a team trying to get an at-large bid," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We have six of our next 10 at home and we play a lot of the teams that are either tied with us or ahead of us in the league standings. You'd rather be playing them at home."

Lincoln Memorial (11-6, 8-4 SAC) has won four of the last five meetings in the all-time series that Carson-Newman leads 50-30. The lone win in that time for the Lady Eagles came on Feb. 25, 2015 at Holt Fieldhouse, a 79-57 thrashing.

A layup by Jasmine Kelly with 0.8 seconds showing on the clock propelled a comeback effort for Lincoln Memorial on Nov. 24, 2015 in the first meeting this season. C-N led for 35:30 of the contest and had a two-point edge with 44 seconds to play. It was the Lady Eagles fourth straight loss at Tex Turner Arena.

Carson-Newman shot 27 percent from the floor in the game and converted just one of 11 attempted three-point field goals. Lincoln Memorial had 22 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points.

The Railsplitters enter Wednesday night riding a three-game winning and have a 7-2 record on the road this season. The road winning percent of .778 is the 35th-best at the Division II level this season.

Lincoln Memorial's size has led the Railsplitters to be one of the top rebounding groups in the nation. As a team the in-state rival in 10th in the country averaging 45.6 boards per contest and third nationally in rebound margin outrebounding opponents by 11.7 per night.

"It's a difficult task because they have four players that will be playing for them that are bigger than anyone we have," Mincey said. "That's what they are so successful on the road. We go on the road and we rely on the three-point shot so much. When we aren't making it's hard to come out with a win. When they go on the road they come out and take one-footers and get offensive rebound putbacks."

Junior forward Megan Pittman leads the league with 10.5 rebounds per game this season, 24th at the D2 level. The Liberty, Ky. native has recorded eight double-doubles this season, 32nd nationally and second to Jazz Green's 12 in the SAC. Pittman had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the first meeting.

Protecting the basketball has been a major cause for concern this season as the Railspitters are the 270th in the nation with an average of 20 turnovers per game including six nights with more than 20 with a 24-turnover contest against the Eagles in the first meeting.

LMU makes just 3.8 three-pointers per game, 267th in the country with 11 nights of four or fewer makes from long distance.

The game will be broadcast on 106.3 WPFT-FM beginning at 5:45 p.m. with the Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off. A video stream will be provided by visiting cneagles.com/live for the Eagle Sports Network's broadcast coverage.

- CN -