VIDEO: Kailyn Brooks Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman set a South Atlantic Conference record with 38 assists while recording its largest margin of victory, 69, since 1993 and scoring the third-most points in school history in a 114-45 victory over Johnson Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
"I'm really proud of the 38 assists," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "They shared the ball and at times I think they were too unselfish. They knew they needed to move the ball around and we got some stuff in transition. They want to pass to each other."
The prior conference record for assists came on Jan. 14, 1995 when Wingate handed out 35 assists against Gardner-Webb. The 38 helpers are the second-most by a Division II program this year as Fort Hayes State handed out 41 against Bethel (Kansas) on Nov. 25.
The beginning of the 1993 season saw C-N topple Chowan 100-21 marking the last time that the Lady Eagles had won a game by at least 60 points.
The 114 points are the third-most in school history behind the 125 posted against Bristol in 1986-87 and the 123 against Milligan during the 1979-80 campaign and the fourth time that the Lady Eagles have registered 114. It was the first time since Jan. 20, 2010 that C-N eclipsed 110 points as they did at Brevard in a 114-64 win.
For the second time this year, C-N set a program record for made three-pointers in the game converting 15 also doing so against King (Tenn.) on Nov. 16.
Mincey's squad tied a school high mark with 93 field-goal attempts as it was also done against Trinity (Vermont) on Jan. 4, 1983 and Saint Anslem on Dec. 2, 1994. C-N attempted 42 three-pointers smashing the previous record of 32 set on Dec. 18, 2013 against Kentucky Wesleyan.
C-N picked up 20 steals in the contest marking the most since pilfering the ball 20 times against Erskine in an 85-45 win on Nov. 10, 2012.
The Lady Eagles turned 37 total turnovers for the Royals into 60 points and posted 40 fast break points on the night. With 25 offensive rebounds, C-N had 30 second-chance points and 54 points in the paint.
Sophomore Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.) paced all players with 21 points, six rebounds and six assists on the night. Senior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) notched her second career double-double going for 14 points and 10 assists in the game.
"We are just a very unselfish team in general," Brooks said. "Assists usually come very easy to us anyway. That's something that we pride ourselves in is our assist-to-turnover ratio. We have been wanting to get that flipped back where it's supposed to be so I think we did that tonight."
Sophomore Briana Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) added 16 points and five boards, sophomore Ashton Wyle (Greeneville, Tenn.) had 14 points and three assists and freshman Tori Griffin (Jefferson City, Tenn.) had a career-high 15 points in 15 minutes.
The score was tied at eight with 5:33 to play in the first quarter when C-N used a 10-1 spurt over the next two minutes of action to take an 18-9 advantage. The lead was 25-16 after the opening 10 minutes.
From that point in the game to the final buzzer, C-N outscored Johnson 89-29 as the Royals went 10-for-29 from the field during that stretch.
Carson-Newman started the second stanza on a 14-3 run in the first four minutes to take a 39-19 advantage. C-N outscored Johnson 29-9 in the second quarter going 11-for-22 from the floor while the Royals turned the ball over 12 times.
The first half saw the Lady Eagles score 36 points off of 19 Johnson turnovers including 25 points on the fast break. Wester led all players at the break with 12 points on 6-for-11 shooting and Smith had 10 points and three rebounds.
Johnson attempted just six shots from the floor in the third quarter but went 5-for-10 from the charity stripe to see C-N outscore Johnson 29-9 for a second consecutive stanza. During a seven-minute sequence the Royals failed to score and C-N used a 14-0 run to take a 72-29 lead.
C-N made five three-pointers in the final 10 minutes of play and shot 48 percent from the floor while holding JU to 4-for-13 shooting.
Johnson was led in scoring by All-American Taylor Baham's 10 points as the only player in double figures on the night.
The Lady Eagles return to South Atlantic Conference action Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with a road trip to South Carolina to face 23rd-ranked Newberry. The game will be on radio on 106.3 WPFT-FM Mountain Country and streaming online on cneagles.com/live beginning at 1:45 p.m. on the Eagle Sports Network with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off".
- CN -
