JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter and failed to make a field in the final 5:07 seeing its five-game winning streak come to an end Wednesday at Holt Fieldhouse 71-66 to Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference play.
Coach Mike Mincey's team led with two minutes to go 63-61 and had won 80 consecutive games when holding an edge in the final two minutes dating back to 102-99 overtime loss to Lincoln Memorial on Nov. 22, 2016. Overall, the Lady Eagles had been 158-6 when leading with two minutes to go.
"That's a huge difference in the game," Mincey said. "Tusculum goes 18 assists to 15 turnovers. Our press is difference and our foot speed to some extent is different. We go 11 assists to 22 turnovers. They get more shot opportunities than us. Obviously we don't shoot it well from three and the field which is uncommon for us at Holt Fieldhouse.
"Tusculum made plays. You give credit where credit is due. They made shots down the stretch. We had opportunities with a nine-point lead in the second half and we didn't do that. It's unfortunate but like I told them sometimes you need failures in order to grow. We will have to learn from this one and move on."
Tusculum (12-3, 7-2) had lost six straight and 11 of the last 12 games to Carson-Newman (10-5, 6-3) before winning at Mossy Creek. The Pioneers scored five points off of turnovers in the final period, the final margin of victory.
The Pioneers opened the game by making seven of their first 12 shots from the field to open up a 20-13 lead with two minutes to go in the first frame. It would be the last time they scored in the frame. Tusculum scored one in a six-minute stretch as C-N took advantage to tie the score at 21 on a triple from Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) with 6:28 to go in the second quarter.
After the hot start, the visitors made three of their final 23 shots from the field allowing C-N to reel off a 20-3 scoring run, the last 12 unanswered, to jump ahead 33-23 in the final minute of the first half on foul shots from Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.). Despite a mid-range jumper from Mya Belton, the Lady Eagles outscored the Pioneers 17-5 in the second quarter to take a 33-25 lead into the locker room.
Tusculum scored the first five points to close within three in the third quarter before a 6-0 burst pushed the margin to nine. It hovered at that level until the Pioneers closed the frame by scoring 10 of the final 15 points to close the gap to 51-48 entering the fourth.
Sydney Wilson tied the score with a triple in the first 13 seconds of the final period only to be answered by a triple from Wykle at the other end. Perhaps the biggest play of the game came in the final two minutes with C-N ahead 63-61. After getting two stops defensively, C-N turned the ball over twice trying to elude the press. Jalia Arnwine promptly buried a right corner three-pointer to give the Pioneers their first lead since the second quarter.
Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) made two foul shots with 56 seconds on the clock to put the home group back on top 65-64 but Wilson made a driving layup and Arnwine buried two foul shots to make it a three-point game at 68-65 with 20 seconds to go.
Wykle split a pair of foul shots but the Lady Eagles turned the ball over on their next two possessions as Tusculum made five of six foul shots in the final minute of the game to solidify a victory.
Marosites sees her string of seven straight double-doubles come to an end with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds in 32 minutes of play. Wykle produced 18 points going 7-for-11 from the field while Harli Smith registered a dozen. Those three players combined for 51 points going 18-for-34 from the field while the rest of the roster tallied 15 points and went 4-for-24 from the field.
"If they are going to get minutes on the floor, it doesn't have to be points, but you have to get production in some way. We need more people. Tusculum had more people that actually scored that got in the game. They outscored us off of the bench which is unusual."
Neither team shot above 40 percent in the game but Wednesday continues a troubling trend for Mincey's crew losing for the fifth time this season in 14 tries when holding the lead at halftime.
Wilson and Arnwine led the way for the Pioneers as each had 17 points in the game. Mia Long finished the night with 10 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds.
Coach Devan Carter's team shot 52 percent from the field in the second half going 16-for-31 from the field and 10-for-16 from inside of the arc.
The Lady Eagles hit the road for the first time in 10 days Saturday with a road trip to visit to Newberry in the first meeting of the year against the Wolves at 2 p.m. Broadcast coverage can be found on cneagles.com/live and on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville).
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