Snow’s runner upends No. 25 C-N in tight tussle

Snow’s runner upends No. 25 C-N in tight tussle

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In a game that featured 17 lead changes and 13 ties, Jo Snow buried a runner with two seconds left in the game to help Wingate take down No. 25 Carson-Newman 76-75 Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.

"I think we had a chance to make some plays in the fourth quarter," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "A freshman steps in here and has a big night. She is the one that hits the last basket on a one-footed runner in the paint. You have to give them credit. We did some good stuff. We did some bad stuff. At the end they made the final play and we didn't. Unfortunately now we are carrying our third home loss of the year."

Carson-Newman (14-5, 7-4) suffers its fifth home loss over the last three seasons as those setbacks have come by a total of 15 points. The Lady Eagles are now 35-8 under Mincey when ranked with four of those defeats coming in 2018-19.

Wingate (14-4, 9-2) has won six straight contests on the year while improving to 18-16 against C-N inside of Holt Fieldhouse in the all-time series.

In the fourth quarter, an ill-timed four-minute scoring drought by C-N allowed Wingate to rattle off eight straight points to take a 71-64 lead with 4:48 remaining. The Lady Eagles punched back using a 9-0 sequence to take a 73-71 advantage with 1:39 left.

After Caroline Averette made an old-fashioned three-point play, Tori Griffin (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) hit a right elbow jumper with 1:12 on the clock to give the Lady Eagles a 75-74 lead with 1:12 on the clock.

Mincey's club produced a stop and had the ball with 40 seconds to play. Draining the entirety of the shot clock, a three-pointer from the right wing came up short. After a bevy of timeouts, Snow caught the ball at the top of the key and shoveled in a runner floater from seven feet away.

With three fouls to give, Wingate committed two fouls and the home group could never get a shot off settling for a one-point defeat.

After scoring the first points of the game, C-N watched Wingate use an 11-2 spurt to go on top 11-5 with 5:49 to go in the opening period. A 10-4 burst tied the game at 15 as the Lady Eagles finished the quarter on a 8-0 scoring run limiting Wingate without points over the final 2:06 to take a 23-18 edge into the second. Sixteen of the 18 points for the Bulldogs came in the paint with the other two coming at the line.

Mincey's unit was able to push the margin to seven at 27-20 only to see Wingate rattle off seven unanswered making a push to take a 38-34 lead with 1:48 to play in the half. C-N maximized the clock as Haris Price (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) hit a stepback triple and Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) made a pair of foul shots with two ticks left to send the home group into the locker room on top 39-38.

Carson-Newman pushed the lead to three at 43-40 just over 90 seconds in the second half only to see Wingate use an 11-2 burst to go on top 51-45 with 5:48 to go in the frame. Briana Smith (Nasvhille, Tenn.) took over scoring eight straight points on two possessions, four free throw and a four-point play, to put the Lady Eagles back on top. Jo Snow scored nine points in the quarter for the Bulldogs  

For the first time this season and first in 354 days, six Lady Eagles produced double-digit scoring efforts. Smith moved into 16th on the school's scoring list with 16 points as she made all seven foul shots. Her career tally moved to 1,132.

Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) racked up a double-double for the eighth time in nine games with 11 points and 11 rebounds adding five assists.

As a team, Carson-Newman made all 17 of its free-throw attempts to become the 11th team in Division II to be perfect at the stripe in a game this year. The 17 makes were tied for the fifth-most without a miss.

Griffin scored seven of her 13 points in the final quarter. Sydney Pearce (Johnson City, Tenn.) registered her first-career double-digit scoring effort with 10 points. Price added 11 and Byrd had 10.

Snow went 8-for-15 from the floor in the game scoring 24 points adding five rebounds and three assists. She had two prior double-digit scoring efforts on the year prior to Saturday. Jordan Quick added 13 points and Courtney Robinson had 11.

The Lady Eagles finish up their homestand Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. against fellow Tennessee foe, Lincoln Memorial. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. from Holt Fieldhouse.

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