VIDEO: Kayla Marosites Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Kayla Marosites became the school's all-time leader in career double-doubles to lead Carson-Newman to a 101-71 domination of Coker Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference play.
Marosites, the nation's leader in double-doubles, produced her eighth of the season and 42nd of her career breaking a tie with Shari Buford. The senior finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds chipping in four assists, four steals and two blocks.
"It means a lot," Marosites said. "I think it's really cool and it's something that I will always look back on. I couldn't have done it without my teammates. My coaches always believed in me to do my best even going back to my high school coaches. My family has always been there for me as well."
Coach Mike Mincey tied the program record for SAC wins with his 107th equaling Eddie Carter's margin that is good for the seventh most in the history of the league.
Carson-Newman (6-4, 2-2) snaps a two-game losing streak while winning a ninth consecutive meeting with Coker (3-4, 1-3) during a span where the average margin of victory has been 30 points.
4⃣2⃣nd career double-double for @KaylaMarosites
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) December 14, 2019
9⃣th straight win over Coker@CNwbasketball is back in the win column. pic.twitter.com/sfEpjsF29Y
The Cobras came out of the gates firing away making seven of its first 10 shots from the field but found themselves tied at 14 at the first media timeout. Coker went on a scoring drought that lasted 6:23 allowing the Lady Eagles to score 20 unanswered points and push the margin to 34-14 with 8:11 to go in the first half.
"At times our depth has been an issue," Mincey said. "Today, it wasn't. We were able to use wholesale changes sometimes bringing four players, sometimes an entire lineup. There was a group on the floor that hadn't gotten a lot of minutes and they gave us big minutes. Qua Hines in her first game back in a long, long time after transferring. Katie Bean was on the floor at that time who gave us big minutes."
C-N kept the margin in that range making 12 of 16 shots from the field in the second stanza making eight of its final nine field-goal attempts to swell the bulge to 23 points at 57-34 at halftime. The point output tied the most points in a half by the team this season with the 57 first half points against King on Nov. 13.
Coker outscored the home crew in the third frame 23-20 thanks to more efficient offense shooting 50 percent or better for a third straight stanza. Despite the hot shooting, the gap closed to 20 at 77-57 entering the fourth.
The Lady Eagles saw their defense step up in the fourth frame yielding 4-for-21 shooting from the field as the Cobras missed 15 of their final 16 shots from the field allowing the margin to expand to a game-high 33 with 1:26 to go before settling on the 30-point differential.
"At times the press and the tempo we are going to challenge their bench," Mincey said. "We know that we are going to play a lot of people in this particular game. They are going to have to play a lot of people. I don't know if it was the legs or fatigue. We did a much better job outscoring them 24-14 in the fourth quarter."
Five Carson-Newman players finished in double figures thanks to 51 percent shooting from the field. The team also combined to go 22-for-23 from the free-throw line. The Lady Eagles turned 20 Cobra turnovers into 33 points.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) led all scorers with 18 points going 5-for-9 from the field. Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) chipped in 15 off of the bench, Tori Griffin (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) added 11 and Katie Bean (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored a career-high 10 points making all five of her shots.
Coker finished the day with 41 percent shooting as a team making three of 12 from long range. Erin Houser led a trio of double-digit scorers with 17 points and six rebounds. Ashauntee Nelson registered 15 points, five boards and four assists and Raya Coley produced 11.
The Lady Eagles close out the calendar year on Wednesday against Mars Hill at 5:30 p.m. from Holt Fieldhouse. Air time is 5:15 on the Eagle Sports Network by tuning into 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cneagles.com/live for "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off".
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