VIDEO: Jai Jai McLaughlin Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – A clutch layup by Jai Jai McLaughlin with 0.3 seconds remaining in regulation sent a contest between Carson-Newman and 17th-ranked Anderson (S.C.) to overtime and the Lady Eagles did just enough in the extra five minutes to win a thriller 81-79 at Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday evening.
"It's a game where you thought it was just about to get away from you," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "They got up nine or 10 points. We started chipping away and hung in there. You get into overtime and I'm sure Anderson probably felt like they had the game in control and it got away from them and we took it to overtime."
Carson-Newman (16-7, 10-7 South Atlantic Conference) did not lead the entire second half and trailed by five with 2:28 to play. The Lady Eagles scored the next five and tied the score at 69 with 59 seconds on a jumper by freshman Briana Smith (Nashville, Tenn.).
A layup by Nakia Young put the Trojans (16-4, 14-3 SAC) ahead 71-69 with six seconds to play. The Lady Eagles advanced the ball into the frontcourt with a timeout. McLaughlin caught the ensuing inbound dribbled left-to-right to get to the right block and spun back into the lane and banked in a shot with 0.3 seconds to play with the Trojans not getting a shot attempt at the end of 40 minutes and send the game to overtime.
"It was just good to know that the coach had faith in me at the end of the game to go in and get us to tie up the game before the end of regulation," McLaughlin said. "I just wanted to make the basket for my teammates because we had fought so hard in the whole game and we were gritty."
The two sides went back-and-forth in the extra session and Carson-Newman took its first lead of the second half on a wide-open triple from senior guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) from the right corner to make it a 79-76 games with 36 seconds to play.
Madison Floyd was fouled on the next possession and pulled Anderson within a point at 79-78. Junior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) made just 2 of 4 foul shots in the final 17 seconds to put C-N up by three at 81-78.
Brooks committed a foul on Heather Jankowy with 0.5 seconds to play as Jankowy was shooting a three-pointer. The Trojans' guard entered third in the league in free-throw percentage made the first and missed the second shot. A lane violation was called on Young and the Lady Eagles inbounded the ball to Burstom as time expired.
It is Carson-Newman's first overtime win since defeating Anderson 89-80 on Feb. 19, 2014 at Holt Fieldhouse and third win over a nationally-ranked team on the year marking the first time since at least 2000 that a C-N team has accomplished that feat.
Burstrom led all scorers with 22 points in the game while McLaughlin added 16 points and six assists. Smith notched 12 points and senior forward Taylor Peterson (Mount Juliet, Tenn.) added 10.
Carson-Newman trailed for the majority of the first quarter but used a 7-0 run a 90 second sequence to take a 17-15 advantage. Alexis Dillard hit two free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining to knot the score at 17. The two sides each made six field goals, one three-pointer and four foul shots.
A 9-2 sequence for the Lady Eagles put the home team ahead by a half-high seven points at 28-21 with 5:56 to play in the first half. Anderson followed with a 9-2 run of its own to tie the score at 30 and tallied the final five points of the opening 20 minutes to head into the locker room ahead 39-35.
Two Anderson players scored in double figures in the first half as Jennifer Monroe and Jankowy each had 10 points.
Redshirt-freshman guard Kayla Newman (Alcoa, Tenn.) led Carson-Newman in scoring with nine points in the opening half.
Anderson extended its lead to 10 points at 56-46 with 1:20 to play in the third quarter snapping a 40-40 tie. Carson-Newman went nearly four minutes without a point and shot 25 percent in the stanza but score the final five points to make it a 56-51 contest heading into the fourth quarter.
Junior forward Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) eclipsed the triple digit mark for career blocks with four in the game bringing her total to 102.
Monroe finished with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds while Dillard added 18 and four blocks.
On the night the Trojans committed 22 turnovers leading to 18 points for C-N while the Lady Eagles gave the ball away just 11 times.
Carson-Newman travels to Hickory, N.C. Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip-off against Lenoir-Rhyne. Broadcast coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on 106.3 WPFT-FM and cneagles.com/live with The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off on the Eagle Sports Network.
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