VIDEO: Lindsey Taylor Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Facing its second-largest halftime deficit of the year, Carson-Newman outscored Lincoln Memorial 44-19 in the final 20 points to take down the Railsplitters 74-59 Wednesday evening in South Atlantic Conference play at Holt Fieldhouse.
"First of all, you scout teams and that's one of the best halves I have seen LMU play," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "It was a different game plan that what we had seen. In the second half, we started switching everything. I thought the girls did a really good job limiting them. With the lack of bodies and games they played, I'm sure fatigue might have played a part. I didn't want to press tonight but I felt like we had to get the game more sped up. We erased the deficit pretty quickly."
Carson-Newman (22-5, 19-4) secures a season sweep of Lincoln Memorial (10-16, 8-15) for the third time in the last four years. The Lady Eagles secure a 13th straight win on Wednesdays.
After shooting 36 percent in the first quarter, Mincey's crew shot at least 50 percent in the final three frames finishing with a 53-percent clip for the game. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) paced four double-digit scorers with 19 points drilling two triples to tie Kandi Duncan for fourth on the school's all-time list.
Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) made eight of 11 shots to post 18 points chipping in four rebounds and four assists. The senior moved past Zoriah Williams and into the No. 19 slot on the school's all-time scoring list.
For the second straight game, Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) tallied a double-double, her seventh of the year, finishing with 16 points and 10 boards.
"We knew that this win was important," Taylor said. "It would keep us up in the two or three seed. We wanted to get that win so we wouldn't drop. It gives me a lot of confidence that the guards have confidence in me to go up and score. It helps with them being able to shoot so I can pass it out to them and trust them."
Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) added 10 points off of the bench with Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) dishing out a team-high six assists.
�� Strong second half
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) February 24, 2022
�� Fiery shooting
�� @19LindseyTaylor double-double
✅ @CNwbasketball win pic.twitter.com/bTTkhwym4d
C-N made four of its first seven shots from the field and led 9-8 with 5:51 to go in the first quarter before going 3:47 without scoring as LMU rattled off 10 of 12 to take a 20-13 advantage after 10 minutes.
While the home group struggled to find the cylinder, Lincoln Memorial made 12 of its final 21 shots from the lead and were on top by as many as 11 points before taking a 10-point lead into the break at 40-30. It was the second-biggest halftime deficit of the year for the Lady Eagles trailing a 12-point differential to Anderson on Dec. 4.
In the third quarter the Lady Eagles opened the frame on a 17-2 scoring outburst capped by a jumper from Byrd to make it 47-42 with 3:29 to go in the period. Despite going 5:06 without points, LMU tied the tally at 49 in the final minute. Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) drilled a trifecta in the waning seconds to give the Lady Eagles the lead for good.
The Lady Eagles scored the first nine points of the fourth to make it a 12-0 run and later added a 9-0 surge to get the margin out to a game-high 17 on a Byrd jumper with 1:31 to go coasting to the victory at Holt.
Lincoln Memorial was fourth in the country in three-pointers per game making nine on average but made just four, the third-lowest output of the year. Lauren Flowers led all scorers with 21 points. Irelynn Davisson scored 13 of her 16 in the first half and Addi Kirkpatrick posted season highs with 12 points and seven rebounds. Mikayla Kuehne dished out eight assists and grabbed six rebounds finishing with six points.
The Lady Eagles prepare for their final game of the regular season on Saturday at 2 p.m. with their longest journey of the year going to Coker. 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) with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live.
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