VIDEO: Kailyn Brooks Interview
VIDEO: Jecca Simerly Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Senior Kailyn Brooks became the 19th Lady to top 1,000 career points as Carson-Newman used its defense to take down Anderson 83-66 in South Atlantic Conference play Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
Brooks buried the team's only three-pointer from the right wing with 1:55 to play in the game to extend the program's streak of converted triples to 146 straight games. The last time C-N failed to make a triple was on Nov. 26, 2011 in a 54-48 win over Delta State.
"It was just one of those plays in the game where you can ice the game," Brooks said of the play. "It can give you a comfortable lead. I think it was Mika that was driving and I found an open spot on the floor and knocked it down.
"It means a lot. I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates obviously finding me and getting me the ball. They are really good at feeding me when I'm hot. I really couldn't have done it without them."
After starting the game 14-for-23 from the field, Anderson (11-4, 8-3) made just two of 23 shot attempts in the second and third quarters as Carson-Newman scored 18 of the 24 points during that 10-minute stretch.
"We got out of the press," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We came out and we wanted to try to press them. Obviously they are a very good basketball team. We were just giving stuff out of the press. We realized that we needed to get back and play solid half-court defense. I think we guarded ball screens better than we have all year. They were tearing us up out of press and getting that of that helped us the most."
The Trojans started the contest on an 8-2 run making each of their first three shots from the floor. The Lady Eagles clawed at the deficit before taking its first lead of the game on a steal from sophomore Briana Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) and a driving layup by redshirt-junior Katie Stubblefield (Alcoa, Tenn.) gave the home team its first lead of the day at 16-14 with 1:32 to play.
The Trojans scored the final six points to hold a 23-20 after the opening 10 minutes and made 60 percent of its shots including 4-for-6 from long range.
The two sides traded buckets as Anderson held a 35-33 advantage with 4:40 remaining in the half. C-N closed the half on a 6-2 sequence and hold a 39-37 halftime lead thanks to Anderson missing its final nine shots from the field and failing to score a point in the final 4:06 of the half.
In the opening half, C-N controlled the hustle points with 11 points off of nine Anderson turnovers and 10 second-chance points thanks to 12 offensive rebounds. Sophomore Mika Wester was the lone player in double figures as she poured in 15 points on seven of 12 shooting.
Anderson scored the first bucket of the third quarter on foul shots from Jasmine Franklin only to see Carson-Newman reel off 12 unanswered points holding Anderson to scoring drought of 4:34. The lead expanded to 14 points at 55-41 with 3:02 to play in the frame. The Trojans scored seven straight points only to see the home squad score six in-a-row to end the third and take a 61-48 lead into the fourth quarter. The Trojans made just three of 15 shot attempts in the quarter.
The visitors surged onto the floor in the fourth quarter pulling within four points at 61-57 in the first three minutes. Carson-Newman had the answer with 10 of the next 13 points and 22 of the final 31 overall on the night going 9-for-12 from the charity stripe to end the contest.
Wester led all players with 25 points, her seventh 20-point night of the year, while filling up the stat sheet with eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals.
Smith ended the night with 15 points and six rebounds. Brooks scored 13 points overall and had four rebounds and three assists and Stubblefield added 11 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes.
Alexy Mollenhauer led the Trojans with 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting and Jasmine Franklin was the only other player to score in double figures ending the evening with 12 points and six rebounds.
The Lady Eagles host Newberry Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. inside of Holt Fieldhouse with coverage beginning 15 minutes before the contest on the Eagle Sports Network. Fans can locate the streams on cneagles.com and the radio broadcast is on 106.3 WPFT-FM Mountain Country starting with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off".
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