VIDEO: Sydney Pearce Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Shooting above 50 percent in three of the four frames, Carson-Newman bounced back after its first home loss of the year by making 52 percent from the floor and beating Lenoir-Rhyne 80-65 Wednesday evening at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference play.
"Coming off of a loss, you have to be happy about putting 80 on the board, shooting well from the field and getting a win," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "There are still some things that we aren't doing well and putting together at this point in time. Of course it is still early in the season. I think we left a lot of points on the board whether it be by turnovers and not getting shot attempts."
The Lady Eagles top the Bears for the sixth straight meeting and 10th time in the last 11 affairs winning by double figures at home for the 10th time in the last 11 years. Carson-Newman (5-2, 3-1) forced 25 turnovers and converted that into 26 points.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) led all scorers with 23 points going 9-for-18 from the field with four assists and four steals. The junior's career scoring total hits 1,070 catapulting her past three players and into the No. 24 slot on the school's all-time scoring list.
Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) was the only other player to hit double figures with 16 in the game making all six of her shots from the field. Sydney Pearce (Johnson City, Tenn.) added to the strong post play with eight points, eight boards and four blocks.
"My teammates play really hard on defense," Pearce said. "Sometimes they get beat I feel like I need to be there for them. I think people underestimate how long my arms are sometimes. I feel like I'm not trying to block it they just shoot it into my hands."
�� 52 percent shooting
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) December 2, 2021
2️5️ forced turnovers
�� @sydneypearce52 fills up the stats
6️⃣ straight @CNwbasketball wins over Lenoir-Rhyne pic.twitter.com/pZ8jzXvg31
Each team had a pair of 6-0 bursts in the opening 10 minutes of play with the Bears drawing level at 17 with 63 seconds to play in the quarter after their second spurt. C-N scored the final four of the period and the first three of the second stanza to go ahead 24-17 with 8:27 to go before the half.
Lenoir-Rhyne converted four of its final 15 shots from the field in the half after opening 7-for-14 but was down by three at 28-25 midway through the quarter. C-N closed on a 9-2 run in the period to jump ahead by double figures at 37-27 at halftime.
The Bears came out of the gates in the second half swinging with seven unanswered points over the first two minutes but the Lady Eagles gunned back with seven straight to get it back to double figures. The margin hit 13 before settling on a 61-50 score going into the fourth. LR made nine of 13 from the floor but seven turnovers led to seven C-N points.
Lenoir-Rhyne used a 6-0 surge to trim the deficit to nine in the fourth and were down 72-63 with 3:41 to go but only made one shot the rest of the way seeing the Lady Eagles score the game's final six points to secure the victory.
Emily Harman, nine points, six assists, four steals and four rebounds, and Maddie Dillinger, three points, were held to a combined 12 points after entering the game posting nearly 30 a night.
"We wanted to come in and do a much better job of keying on their key guys," Mincey said. "We knew they were a three-headed monster and we wanted to focus on them with our scout and how we were going to guard them. I think they got some stuff out of the press but I was really proud of Campbell [Penland] and [Taylor] Goforth because I thought they had a mismatch with Dillinger because she is 6-2 and they are 5-9. Those two individuals in particular and the team did a very good job."
Brandi Hudson paced the Bears with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists going 7-for-13 from the field as one of three players in double figures. Tilda Lindstrom finished with 14 and Hanna McClung had a dozen after scoring 11 points in the first five games of the year.
The Lady Eagles continue their three-game home swing on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Anderson from Holt Fieldhouse. Air time on the Eagle Sports Network is 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cneagles.com/live.
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