CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After leading by double digits for the majority of the game and by 21 with 3:33 to go in the third, Carson-Newman pulled out a 65-62 win despite allowing Queens to have a possession in the final minute to take the lead Saturday afternoon at the Levine Center in South Atlantic Conference play.
"It is a win," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "To be honest, I told them it's a loss. It feels like a loss to me because instead of going forward we are regressing a little bit. We started out the game 22-5. We had to break up the starting lineup. It goes downhill from there the rest of the half. Momentum gets lost. Some of the starters are making bad plays or aren't finishing at the rim but the momentum has been lost. It's just frustrating."
Carson-Newman (12-4, 5-3) extends its winning streak over Queens (5-8, 0-7) to nine games, the longest active mark against a SAC foe. The Royals see their losing streak against the conference hit 20 games, the sixth-longest skid in America.
The Royals used a 19-2 run spanning the third and fourth quarters of nearly seven minutes of gameplay to pull within 53-49 with 6:46 to go in the game.
It was an eight-point game with 4:22 to go when Queens rattled off an 11-2 burst to pull within one at 63-62 on a layup by Lade Adepoju with 46 seconds to play.
Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) crashed in to grab the rebound, was fouled and drilled a pair of foul shots. Queens had a good look at the horn as Jaymi Golden left a potential game-tying triple short from the ring wing.
Following a pair of missed foul shots, Queens had a chance to take its first lead of the game as Ceara Leavai missed a three-pointer from the left corner with seven seconds to play.
2⃣3⃣ points from @HarisJordan
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) January 12, 2019
9⃣ straight wins for @CNwbasketball over @QueensAthletics
✅ Never trail pic.twitter.com/TxBo5PmrJv
Each team came out of the gates ice cold as the score was tied at two over three minutes into the game. Carson-Newman responded by catching fire outscoring the Royals 20-3 over the next five minutes to take a 22-5 lead with 1:43 to go in the first.
Spanning the quarters, Queens outscored the visitors 11-1 to cut the deficit to seven at 23-16 just over a minute into the second stanza. C-N pushed the lead back to a dozen with 4:43 to go in the half.
Both teams went icy as neither side made a field goal the rest of the half. Queens settled for two foul shots and the Lady Eagles made just one to send Mincey's crew to the locker room ahead 34-22. Carson-Newman scored 11, its second-fewest in the second this year, while limiting the Royals to a second quarter low 10.
With 6:47 to go in the third, C-N ran off 12 of 14 to get its largest lead of the game at 51-30 with 3:33 to go in the frame. The Lady Eagles failed to score a point to close out the third quarter allowing the Royals to score the final 10 and make it a 51-40 game entering the fourth.
Haris Price (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) produced another gem offensively with 23 points going 9-for-17 from the floor. She pushed her career tally to 1,102 to move into sole possession of 16th on the school's scoring list.
"We got up 21 at one point," Price said. "It shows what we are capable of but we have to keep that lead instead of giving it up like we did. I'm trying [to score more] but I didn't finish well in the fourth quarter. It's something I need to work on."
Marosites saw her streak of six straight double-doubles come to an end with six points and 12 rebounds. That string tied the high water mark since 2000 with Shari Burford.
Briana Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) was the only other player in double figures with 13 points in the game pushing her career total to 1,089 to pass Ashley Tipton for 19th on the program's scoring ledger.
As a team, C-N went 16-for-27 including 6-for-13 in the fourth quarter from the charity stripe. When shooting at least 20 foul shots, the 59 percent mark is the lowest since having an identical effort at Anderson on Feb. 8, 2017.
Adepoju finished a monster game with 17 points and 16 rebounds going 6-for-8 from the field. Kristian Eanes finished with 19 and Golden ended the day with 12 points.
The road trip wraps up Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. with the short journey across the state to Tusculum for a 6 p.m. opening tap against the Pioneers.
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