JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman scored the game's first five points and held a 27-5 lead after a quarter leading wire-to-wire to throttle Limestone 100-62 on Saturday at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference action.
"The girls were locked in from the tip," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "It is probably the most complete game we have had on both ends of the floor. I am happy for our seniors to get this kind of performance and outcome on their senior day. They all played well."
The Lady Eagles matched a season high with 11 three-pointers burying 52 percent of their shots overall while tallying 29 assists, the third time this year the club has hit that mark. Mincey's unit dominated the glass holding a 46-25 lead while racking up a 22-0, a season high, advantage on the glass. C-N forced 25 turnovers and cashed in 33 points off of those giveaways.
Carson-Newman (21-5, 18-4) snapped a two-game losing streak to Limestone (14-10, 11-10) while handing Mincey his 217th win on the bench to push him into second on the school's all-time wins list.
Four players finished in double figures with Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) posting her sixth double-double of the season with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) matched Taylor for the game high with 22 points drilling four trifectas.
Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) was efficient again going 8-for-11 from the field scoring 18 points while adding nine rebounds and four assists. Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) chipped in 10 points on four of five shooting with three assists.
Sydney Pearce (Johnson City, Tenn.) swatted a career-high five shots to move into fifth on the school's all-time rejections list passing Data Caldwell and Brooke Johnson in the process to bring her tally to 120. Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) dished out double-digit assists for the second time this week with 10 adding six points.
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— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) February 20, 2022
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✅ @CNwbasketball win pic.twitter.com/0QCnk0udQg
Limestone made only two of 13 shots in the opening 10 minutes but saw the Lady Eagles open the game on a 17-2 burst in the first 7:30 of the contest before the Saints made their second shot. The first frame featured 9-0 and 8-0 surges to make it a 22-point game after the first.
In the second, the Saints opened the period on a 12-5 surge to cut the score to a 15-point game with 6:34 to go before halftime but the Lady Eagles closed the half on an 8-0 surge to go on top 49-24 at halftime, their second-largest spread at the break this year.
Each team scored 24 points in the third but a 10-2 run by the Saints trimmed the score back to 22 at 66-44 with 2:35 to play in the period before C-N rattled off seven straight. Two buckets in the final minute by the visitors made it a 73-48 game going into the fourth.
After the team's traded deuces in the first minute, Carson-Newman scored 16 straight, its second-longest scoring run of the year, over a 3:36 stretch to push the margin out to a game-high 41, 91-50, with 5:21 to go before settling on the 100-62 final tally. The Orange and Blue made 59 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes and 10 of 11 at the line.
Reagan McCray, Quin Byrd and Reagan Kargo combined for 44 of the team's 62 points with McCray leading the way with 18 points making six of nine from long range in 35 minutes. Byrd made seven of eight at the charity stripe finishing with 15 and Kargo added 11.
Carson-Newman's bench scored a season-high 47 points and made 19 field goals while the entire Saints roster made 21 total shots from the field, nine of which came from long distance.
The Lady Eagles play their final regular-season game at Holt Fieldhouse on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. with Lincoln Memorial coming to town. Air time on the Eagle Sports Network is 5:15 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with video available on cneagles.com/live.
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