C-N Women's Basketball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Coming off of its best defensive effort on the road this millennium, Carson-Newman makes the trek to Hartsville, S.C. for a South Atlantic Conference tilt against Coker Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
"We have put some importance on [defense] because we weren't doing a very good job," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We were just outscoring people when we did win. The pressure has been pretty good. We have been speeding people up. You look at Mars Hill and Brevard we want to take some credit but they weren't shooting the ball well. The kids are starting to understand better the concepts of the way we want to play."
Saturday is just the eighth all-time meeting between C-N and Coker since the two began playing in 2012 as the Lady Eagles hold a 5-2 edge while winning five of the last six times the two squads have met on the hardwood.
Carson-Newman (9-6, 6-3) needed a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter to defeat Coker (3-11, 2-7) the last time Mincey's group met in the DeLoach Center on Feb. 27, 2016, the 2015-16 regular season finale. It secured its sixth season with a record better than .500 over the last eight years.
Only six players scored for Carson-Newman but five reached double figures. Taylor Peterson finished with 18 points while Kailyn Brooks scored nine points in the fourth quarter to finish with 18 points and five assists.
Coker was slated for a ninth-place finish in the preseason coaches' poll after going 9-19 overall a season ago and placing 10th in the league with an 8-14 mark.
The Cobras began the season 0-6 and 1-9 overall but have won two of their last four outings. Coker is 1-4 at home this season with its lone home victory coming on Dec. 19, 2016 in a 65-60 win over Belmont Abbey.
"You watch them on film and you can clearly see that they have talented players," Mincey said. "These gyms like Brevard, Mars Hill and Coker we have not played our best. This particular Carson-Newman team did a great job at Mars Hill, did a great job at Brevard and we expect the same situation at Coker. Our kids understand that they have quality players. Putting the ball in the basket can help as well."
On the season, Coker is averaging 22.1 turnovers per game, worst in the SAC and 295th in Division II as the team has committed 20 or giveaways in 10 games.
Opponents are converting 43 percent of their shot attempts as the Cobras are 272nd in the nation in field-goal percentage defense. Coker commits the most fouls in the league registering 22 per game allowing opponents to shoot 22 foul shots per night.
Coker is the second-best free-throw shooting team in the SAC making 72 percent from the charity stripe but the Cobras are eighth in the league in free-throw attempts.
Second-team All-SAC pick Jazz Green is out the door but junior Kendra Lambert and senior Terrika Foster lead the charge. Lambert was fourth in the league with 70 three-pointers while Foster started all 28 games. This year Lambert is fifth in the conference in three-pointers attempted but she is making 20 percent of those shots.
Junior forward Iresha Cooper is leading the SAC in field-goal percentage making 55 percent of her shots from the floor as the only player averaging in double figures at 12.1 points per game.
Broadcast coverage will be available on Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM and cneagles.com/live beginning at 1:45 p.m. with the pregame show, "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off", on the Eagle Sports Network.
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