VIDEO: Kayla Marosites Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Kayla Marosites became the first player in Lady Eagle recorded history to register a 20-point, 20-rebound night propelling Carson-Newman to program victory No. 800, 111-82 over King, in the home opener Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
Kayla Marosites matched her own program record with 22 rebounds on the night finishing with 27 points adding nine assists, two blocks and two steals going 9-for-18 from the field.
"It means a lot," Marosites said. "It's pretty crazy and I am really proud. It's an awesome accomplishment that I will always look back on. I have not had a triple-double yet so I was really wanting one more assist. It's nice that I was able to get my teammates involved too. I just went out there and gave it my all."
Carson-Newman (3-0) collects its 12th straight victory in a home opener having not lost since 2007 while improving to 22-0 all-time against King (1-2) expanding the longest winning streak against a single club in school history.
Overall the Lady Eagles saw five players score in double figures with Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) adding 20 points, eight assists, four boards and two blocks.
Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and five assists in her first-career start. Kelci Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) finished with 12 points and six boards while Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) poured in a career-high 13 points off of the bench.
C-N racked up 61 rebounds, its most since pulling down 63 against Mars Hill on Nov. 29, 2017, a span of 59 games and 716 days. The Lady Eagles also assisted on 31 of the team's 44 made buckets shooting 50 percent for the game.
2⃣7⃣ Points
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) November 14, 2019
2⃣2⃣ Rebounds
9⃣ Assists@KaylaMarosites became the first player in @CNwbasketball history with a 20/20 game matching the program record in rebounds. pic.twitter.com/cdLVn8Utmn
After Wykle scored the first points of the game, King scored the next five to go on top 5-3 just a shade over a minute into the contest. Five minutes later the Lady Eagles had rattled off a 22-2 scoring run to stretch the bulge to 25-8. The Lady Eagles shot 73 percent from the field in the first 10 minutes and held a 40-14 lead.
"The first quarter we played about as well as we could play," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We shot really efficient especially out of Harli, Braelyn and Kayla. Second quarter and third quarter, King outscored us. We were running some different lineups and we were a little out of sorts. Credit King. We played about as good as we could in the first quarter and they came out in the second and third quarter and beat us. Any time you can add a multitude of people to score it makes it hard to be scouted."
While the Lady Eagles did not score as well in the second stanza, an 8-0 burst stretched the margin to a half-high 32 points at 50-18 just over three minutes into the period. King doubled up the home crew the rest of the first half to close the gap to 25 at 57-32 after 20 minutes.
Mincey's crew was able to get the margin back to 32 in the third period at 71-39 midway through the period but it scored just four points the rest of the way as King closed to within 23 at 75-52 going into the fourth.
The two teams combined for 66 points in the fourth quarter with the home crew making 64 percent of its shots in the final period to sprint away with the win.
King saw six players score at least eight points on the night being led in scoring by the team's leader, Trinity Lee, who notched 20 points, six assists and three steals. Ali Golden added 11 points. King was limited to 36 percent shooting on the night going 7-for-38 from long distance.
The two programs are set to square off again on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. from Bristol, Tenn. as the Tornado will host the Lady Eagles. Air time is 2:45 p.m. on the Eagle Sports Network by accessing cneagles.com/live.
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