JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Haris Price hit a driving right-handed layup with 16 seconds to play and made a pair of free throws to help Carson-Newman hand Catawba its first South Atlantic Conference loss in an 83-79 Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
The Lady Eagles saw their lead rise to eight points at 79-71 with 1:42 to play in the game only to see Catawba reel off six straight points to pull within a deuce. Price hit the driving layup from the right block to extend the lead and after a defensive stop made a pair of foul shots to seal the deal.
The win for Carson-Newman (6-4, 3-1) snaps a four-game losing streak to Catawba (6-3, 3-1) in the all-time series marking the first victory since a 73-65 win at Catawba on Dec. 6, 2014. A season after leading Catawba for a total of 52 seconds in two games, the Lady Eagles led for 38:52 Wednesday evening.
"If you look at the stats you're not sure who won the game," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "I felt like we made a lot of negative plays down the stretch. We started the game really well. It's not that we took our foot off of the peddle, but I think Catawba brought it to us and they got hot. [Bri Johnson] played a great game. She put them on their back and almost carried them to a victory. We made just enough plays to carry the four-point victory."
Mincey's group made 10 of its first 13 shot attempts in the game to go ahead by 13 points at 21-8 with 4:09 to play in the opening quarter. The Lady Eagles made just one of their next seven attempts as the Indians closed the first quarter on an 8-2 run to pull within seven at 25-18 after 10 minutes of action.
Carson-Newman failed to score a field goal in the final 3:44 of the first half but took a 40-37 lead into halftime. Each team shot below 33 percent in the second quarter and made five foul shots in the second stanza.
The Lady Eagles made just six of their final 22 shots from the floor in the first half but shot 46 percent from the floor while holding Catawba to 35 percent from the field.
Bri Johnson led all scorers with 19 points in the first half going 6-for-9 from the field and make 7-for-8 at the free-throw line. The rest of the Indians went 7-for-28 from the field in the half.
Sophomore Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.) led C-N with 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in the first half as the lone double-digit scorer for the Lady Eagles. C-N led for 19:02 of the first half while the game was tied for the remainder of the time.
A 7-1 run by Catawba capped by two foul shots from Johnson gave the Indians their first lead of the night at 50-49 with 4:51 to play in the third quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by freshman Tori Griffin (Jefferson City, Tenn.) gave C-N the lead back at 55-50. Following four straight points, Carson-Newman reeled off a 9-0 run over a three-minute period from the third and fourth quarters to go ahead 64-54 with 8:46 to play in the game.
"I knew how bad the team wanted to beat Catawba," Griffin said. "I've honestly never been in a game where it's been so competitive. My team put me in a good spot to where I was open. I was in a good position to make shots. I had so much energy going through me that I knocked a bunch of them down."
Wester led the Lady Eagles with her fifth 20-point effort of the season while compiling her third double-double of the year with 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and a career-high three blocks.
Price (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) posted 17 points and four assists while senior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) finished the night with 14 points and five rebounds.
C-N spoils one of the best nights in the history of the conference by Johnson. The senior scored 41 points on 12-for-17 shooting from the floor and 16-for-19 from the free-throw. She is the first player to score at least 40 points against Carson-Newman in the 1,239 games the program has played while posting the fifth-highest scoring effort by any player in league history.
The Lady Eagles play one more game before going on Christmas break as they travel to Lenoir-Rhyne for a 2 p.m. start on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on radio on Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM and on the internet on cneagles.com/live beginning at 1:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off".
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