MARS HILL, N.C. – Mika Wester scored a career-high 31 points on 14-for-23 shooting to lead Carson-Newman to a 90-52 rout of Mars Hill in South Atlantic Conference play Saturday afternoon at Stanford Arena.
"I came in with a different focus," Wester said following the contest. "I have been getting in the gym and knowing that my teammates are in the gym is a confidence booster. I had a lot of open stuff so I just had to focus and make sure to cash in on it."
Wester became the first Lady Eagle to score 30 or more points in a game since Brooke Johnson dropped 39 points in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Clayton State on March 12, 2005.
Carson-Newman (7-5, 4-2) wins a game on New Year's Eve for the first time in program history after failing to do so in 2005 and 2011.
Mars Hill (2-10, 0-6) took a 7-6 advantage with 7:18 to play in the opening frame before going on a 5:03 scoring drought that saw Carson-Newman score 14 unanswered points. Overall, the Lady Eagles closed the first quarter on a 19-2 run to take a 25-9 lead to the second quarter. The nine points were the fewest yielded by C-N this season.
"I knew [getting off to a hot start] was going to be key," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "On New Year's Eve and not a lot of people in the crowd, we brought the energy. Scoring the basketball was key. We got some turnovers. It was a really good start up 25-9 after the first quarter."
With the visitors ahead 37-20 with 5:04 to play in the first half, C-N reeled off nine straight points as Mars Hill went 4:30 without any points. The halftime score was 49-24 Mars Hill went 7-for-25, 28 percent, from the floor in the first 20 minutes of play.
Carson-Newman made 60 percent of its shots in the second quarter and made 54 percent overall in the first half. 15 turnovers from Mars Hill led to 14 points for C-N as the Lady Eagles scored 24 points in the paint.
Sophomore Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.) led all players with 16 points in the first half and senior Carly Pippin (Sevierville, Tenn.) scored a career-high 10 in eight minutes of action in the opening portion of the game.
Carson-Newman used a 13-2 sequence to stretch out the lead in the third quarter from 53-27 to 66-29 over 6:24 as the Lions shots 25 percent from the floor in the third quarter.
The lead for Mincey's group grew to a game-high 49 points at 86-37 with seven minutes to play thanks to a 15-2 run beginning at the 1:46 mark of the third quarter. The Lady Eagles went 5-for-20 from the field shooting 25 percent in the final quarter as Mars Hill closed the game on an 8-0 run as C-N failed to score a point in the final 4:31 of the contest.
Every Carson-Newman player that saw action scored in the game as four players finished in double figures. Sophomore Briana Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) posted 12 points, five assists and four rebounds. Redshirt-junior Katie Stubblefield and Pippin each finished with 10 points in the game.
The Lions turned the ball over 28 times in the game leading to 29 points for Carson-Newman as the Lady Eagles scored 42 points in the paint.
Mars Hill shot 28.8 percent from the floor in the game failing to shoot above 35 percent in a contest for the eighth time in 12 games.
Aliyah Farmer led the Lions in scoring with 17 points, seven rebounds and four blocks while Paige Chavis was the only other double-digit scorer finishing with 10 points and five boards.
The Lady Eagles break in 2017 with a home affair against Tusculum Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM locally and online with audio and video streams on cneagles.com/live beginning at 5:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network.
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