VIDEO: Skylar Boshears Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Behind a 35-point third quarter, 21st-ranked Carson-Newman turned a nine-point halftime lead into a 37-point advantage in the second half hammering Queens 105-70 at Holt Fieldhouse Saturday in South Atlantic Conference action.
"It was about an adjustment mentally about how hard we were going to play," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "By the time we get to the third quarter, our opponents are gassed a little more so it's easier to stay in front of them because we are fresher than they are. I do think we had better effort to get down and guard someone and play defense."
With a bucket midway through the third period, Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) became the 28th player in program history to score 1,000 points doing so in game No. 53 for her career. The junior finished with a game-high 21 points going 8-for-14 from the field. Burying three triples, she moves into a three-way for sixth on the school's all-time made three-pointers list.
"She only had two weeks of practice going into the Lander game," Mincey said. "I think it took her a little bit today to get going. Once she gets going we know she can go. She is not at the top of her game yet but luckily for her we have a lot of players that can pick up the pieces."
Carson-Newman (3-1, 2-0) wins a home opener for the 14th consecutive campaign winning by at least 26 for the fifth time in the last six years. The Lady Eagles beat the Royals for a 14th meeting in a row pummeling Queens (1-2, 0-2) by double figures for the 12th time in that stretch and eighth time at Holt Fieldhouse by at least 17.
Mincey's team shot at least 50 percent in three of the four quarters and eight of the last 12 overall putting up 90-plus points for the third straight game. It is the first time since a string of five in a row, including three 100-point efforts, from Jan. 17-31, 2018.
Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) recorded a second straight double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds with three assists in 21 minutes. Skylar Boshears (LaFollette, Tenn.) scored 20 points going 9-for-11 from the field, the fifth time in her career she has hit at least 20 points in a game.
"I just wanted to come in focus, push the ball and attack," Boshears said. "I wanted to do whatever I had to do to get our team the win. We have fresh legs and each group has something to contribute so it leads to good things. You don't care who you play with, you know that everyone is going to play hard. We have come together and we are winning as a team."
Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) added 15 points and nine rebounds making seven of her 10 shots from the floor. Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) posted 13 points and five boards. Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) filled up the stats with six steals, six assists, four points and four rebounds.
"It wasn't very good from an effort standpoint in the first half," Mincey said. "That was our message to them in the second half was about effort. We saw Mikayla giving that effort getting steals and that's why we changed the lineup heading into the third."
1️⃣4️⃣ straight wins to open Holt and over the Royals
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) November 20, 2021
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Queens held the advantage for much of the first period going back on top after C-N took its first lead of the day on a triple by Mikayla Sink to go ahead 17-15 with 3:27 on the clock. The Lady Eagles rattled off 10 of the next 12 before a Kalaya Hall layup made it a 25-21 contest after a period.
Free throws kept Queens without reach for much of the second stanza making 10 of 11 and were down 40-39 with 3:04 to play in the period. Carson-Newman went nearly four minutes without a field goal before closing the first half on an 11-3 burst punctuated by six points from Byrd in the final 45 seconds to build a 51-42 advantage at the break.
The Lady Eagles opened the third quarter on a 26-5 run scoring the final 13 unanswered outscoring the Royals 35-12 to open up an 86-54 lead going into the final 10 minutes. C-N forced 13 turnovers and scored 23 points off of those giveaways in the period. All told the Lady Eagles had 40 points off of turnovers and 60 points in the paint.
While the margin was 19-16 in the final period, the Lady Eagles shot 50 percent and held the Royals to 25 percent shooting with free throws from Boshears getting the team into triple digits.
Queens sees its SAC losing streak hit 13 and its conference road skid hit 21 with the loss shooting 35 percent from the field. Hall led the team in scoring with 15 points adding four assists and three steals. Kristy Hamze played 14 minutes and cashed in 14 points, all in the first half. Mikayla Sink chipped in 13 points off of the bench and Kiana Barkhoff had six points, six blocks, 10 rebounds and three assists.
The Lady Eagles hit the road again on Tuesday night taking on Clayton State for a 5:30 p.m. tip off from the Peach State. Broadcast coverage airs on cneagles.com/live starting at 5:15 with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off".
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