JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman scored its fewest points in any quarter this season as No. 14 Catawba outscored the Lady Eagles 16-5 in the frame and held off a late charge as the Lady Eagles fell 56-52 at Holt Fieldhouse on Saturday in South Atlantic Conference play.
"Give a lot of credit to Catawba," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "They came in here for the second year in a row in our gym and put a lockdown on us. I can't explain our offensive woes. I wish I could. We have had a week and a half off but I thought our preparation pretty good. We went live against each other. To come in the way we did and not be able to make shots, it's somewhat baffling to me. As a head coach, you have to take it on our shoulders and say 'our preparation wasn't good enough'. They weren't prepared to come in and play against a team that is coming off of two losses and needed to get back on their winning ways. It wasn't a very pretty game. They held us 29 points under our season average."
Carson-Newman (18-5, 15-4) had won eight straight home games, the third-longest mark in the region before losing on Saturday as Catawba (18-4, 15-4) snaps a two-game losing streak to secure its second straight win at Holt Fieldhouse.
The Lady Eagles scored the game's first five points in less than a minute only to go a four-minute span without points seeing the Indians rattle off seven in a row. All told the home crew scored seven points in the final nine minutes and went 4-for-16 from the field in the first frame to fall behind 17-12.
In the second stanza, C-N scored 11 of the first 16 points to go on top 23-22 midway through the period. However the Lady Eagles missed their final four shots from the field watching Catawba score four points in the final 25 seconds to go ahead 30-27 at halftime. The half showcased 11 lead changes.
After scoring the first points of the second half, Mincey's crew failed to score over the next five minutes going a stretch where it made one of its 17 shot attempts. The Indians took advantage closing the quarter on a 16-3 surge to go ahead 46-32 going into the fourth. The Lady Eagles went 2-for-15 from the field in the period.
Carson-Newman found a surge in the fourth scoring the first 10 points of the period and used a 15-2 run to pull within one at 48-47 with 2:58 to play in the game. The Lady Eagles missed three of their final five shots of the game despite making 57 percent in the fourth as the Indians made four of six at the line to seal the win.
Overall, the Lady Eagles had their lowest scoring output of the season being held to fewer than 60 points for the second time this year and first time at home. Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) was the only member of the Orange and Blue in double figures with a dozen points in 24 minutes as the bench accounted for 28 points. Carson-Newman's starting five 8-for-30 from the floor in the game.
Shemya Stanback paced all players with 14 points adding 10 rebound and five assists in 26 minutes on the hardwood as the only player in double figures. The Indians won the rebounding battle 42-40 going plus-five in the second half of action.
Despite each team turning the ball over 17 times, Catawba held an 18-12 edge in the category and went 7-for-10 at the free-throw line compared to C-N's 3-for-8 tally.
The Lady Eagles hit the road on Monday at 2 p.m. at Queens looking to complete the season sweep of the Royals for a 3 p.m contest. Air time on the Eagle Sports Network is 2:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live.
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