JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman will honor its four seniors in the South Atlantic Conference regular-season finale against Newberry on Saturday at 2 p.m. from Holt Fieldhouse looking to win a third consecutive game prior to tournament play.
Key members of the team's 2017-18 championship season that culminated in the first region title, Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.), Kelci Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.), Tori Griffin (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) and Chanler Geer (Knoxville, Tenn.) will be honored between the men's and the women's games. Over the last three seasons, the class has guided the team to two NCAA Tournaments and a 74-18 record and a 49-12 mark in conference games. Griffin is the first four-year senior to win 20 games in each of her four seasons in 30 years.
"We have had some really good players that have left the program over the last few years," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We felt like Kayla was the missing piece when we went to the Elite Eight a few years ago. She has done the dirty work on both ends of the floor rebounding. She is magnificent at that. One of the best in the country. When you look at everything she has achieved, it will likely never be done again."
Seeding for next week's SAC Women's Basketball Championships is fairly anti-climactic across the league with just eight total tiebreaker scenarios on the table. Carson-Newman (20-7) is tied for second with Tusculum but is the No. 3 seed due to the Pioneers sweeping the series. The Lady Eagles will play either Wingate or Lincoln Memorial but the Railsplitters will need to beat regular-season champion Anderson on Saturday to move into sixth.
"It might be senior day but it's not their last chance to play inside of Holt Fieldhouse," Mincey said. "At this time of year you want to be trending in the right direction. I felt like our game at Queens and at Wise there were some moments that showed that we are trending that way. I think the girls are excited. We have tried to make sure that they are fresh and the chemistry is good."
It has been a dominating recent stretch for the Lady Eagles against the Wolves winning each of the last eight contests and 12 of the last 14 stretching their lead in the series to 31-17. The eight-game mark is the second-longest winning streak for either side in the series as C-N can match the longest streak set from 2000-04. The last time Newberry (16-10, 13-8) beat Mincey's crew came in the SAC Quarterfinals on March 2, 2016, 85-74 in Eleazer Arena.
Six of the eight wins have come by double figures with Carson-Newman winning each of the last four meetings at Holt Fieldhouse by an average of 22 points and by no fewer than a dozen.
When the teams faced off in the Palmetto State on Jan. 18, Carson-Newman rolled out its current starting five paving the way to a 78-59 win with that five going 24-for-49 from the field scoring 72 points. Madison Bunch (Morristown, Tenn.) dropped in 12 points and five rebounds in her first-career start.
With Catawba moving to the No. 5 slot in the conference due to infractions, Newberry is primed to host the Indians in the opening round of the SAC Tournament having won eight of its last 10 games after starting conference play 5-6.
None of the numbers have changed much with the exception of one key area, turnovers. For the season, coach Joanna Tincher's team commits the 19th-most giveaways in the nation at 20 but is under 16 over the last 10 games. After posting at least 20 turnovers in the first 16 games of the year, the Wolves have done so just twice in the last 10.
The strongest area statistically is field-goal percentage defense where teams are shooting 38 percent from the field, the third-best margin in the league. The team is solid on the glass posting a plus-three mark, good for fourth in the SAC. C-N dominated the rebounding effort in the first meeting posting a 46-28 advantage with 18 second-chance points.
Keli Romas was by far the most effective player for the Wolves in the first meeting finishing with 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting. The rest of the team went 14-for-49, 29 percent, from the field. Romas, the second best foul shooter in the league, leads the team with a dozen points per game. She has struggled lately averaging nine points and shooting 33 percent from the field in eight February games.
The only player posting double figures this month is Kelsey McDermott racking up 13 per night shooting 47 percent from the field and 44 percent from deep. It has been hit and miss though with five games of 15 or more points and three with six or less.
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