JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman secured its largest victory over Lincoln Memorial since 1984 using four double-digit scorers to start the South Atlantic Conference slate with an 85-58 win at Holt Fieldhouse Tuesday night.
"The girls were down about what happened this weekend," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "Maybe we give up one but not both. We are back home with SAC play that starts a new season. It's a rivalry game so we wanted to come out and play well. I thought they did a really good job out of the press of not giving up easy stuff. We shot it really well. We shot 47 from the field and 50 from the three. That's back-to-back games at Holt where we hit a bunch of threes and shot it really well."
In the 85th all-time meeting between the two programs, Carson-Newman (5-2, 1-0) wins by 27 points, its largest margin in the series since winning by 33 points, 89-56, in 1984 at Holt Fieldhouse.
The Lady Eagles get back in the win column winning a conference opener for the seventh time in Mincey's nine years moving to 20-11 in the program's history.
Mincey's club used a balanced scoring attack that was led by Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.). The senior poured in 21 points adding 13 rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) chipped in 18 points making seven of 15 adding four assists. Tori Griffin (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) posted 14 and Kelci Marosites tacked on 11.
Lincoln Memorial (1-3, 1-1) failed to produce a double-digit scorer on the night. It is the first time that a C-N foe failed to register an individual with at least 10 points in 404 games and 4,752 days when Livingstone saw its leading scorer notch eight on Nov. 25, 2006.
2⃣7⃣ point win
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) November 27, 2019
⭐️double-double from @KaylaMarosites
✅ SAC opening night win@CNwbasketball is off to a 1-0 start to league play with a smashing of LMU. pic.twitter.com/zURwfKrIlK
Carson-Newman came out of the gates on fire scoring the first 12 points of the night as LMU missed its first seven shots from the field. The 'Splitters caught fire making eight of their next 11 to cut the deficit to one at 19-18 with under a minute to play. An 8-0 burst spanning the start of the second quarter stretched the lead back to nine.
After two foul shots from Sydney Newsome, C-N ripped off 14 unanswered points to push the bulge to 41-20 on a mid-range jumper from Wykle. The visitors scored six straight points during a nearly three-minute scoring drought from Mincey's crew. The half came to a close on a 25-foot triple from the top of the key by Kelci Marosites to make it a 46-28 game at the break.
The two sides went back and forth until the Lady Eagles went on an 8-0 scoring run capped by free throws from Kayla Marosites during a 4:35 scoring drought by the 'Splitters. A triple from the senior with 53 ticks remaining put C-N ahead 64-40 with 10 minutes to go.
The Lady Eagles shot 56 percent from the field in the fourth quarter swelling the margin to a game-high 30 points on a three-pointer from Griffin with 3:15 to go in the game.
Mincey's unit held a 46-27 rebounding margin collecting 20 offensive rebounds converting that into 24 second-chance points. C-N forced 18 turnovers tallying 21 points off of those giveaways.
Lauren Flowers, who entered averaging 16 points per game, was limited to nine points on 4-for-9 shooting. Shermeria Quarles chipped in nine points and six boards while Semjia Ogburn added eight points and 11 caroms collected.
The Lady Eagles return to the friendly confines after Thanksgiving on Saturday to play Wingate at 2 p.m. Broadcast coverage starts at 1:45 p.m. on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online with video and audio on cneagles.com.live.
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