VIDEO: Press Conference Mike Mincey, Addison Byrd and Braelyn Wykle
DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Four players scored in double figures as fifth-seeded and No. 22 Carson-Newman secured its largest win in an NCAA Tournament game in history pulling away from fourth-seeded Wingate 81-65 at the Convocation in the first round Friday evening.
"Wingate is a very great team," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "They won our regular season. We took two losses to them. I think our kids had a revenge factor. We wanted to be able to come out and have an opportunity to beat them because we didn't see them in the championship game. They are tough. Bryanna Troutman is over there and is the Player of the Year in our conference.
"I thought our kids executed the game plan that we wanted to implore. In the first two games we put them at the free-throw line. We did tonight too but we didn't shoot the ball well. Tonight was much better and a lot of people contributed."
Prior to the contest, the Lady Eagles largest NCAA Tournament win was 14 set the 2005 regional semifinal. The spread is the biggest in a national tournament game since Feb. 23, 1993 when the club routed Belmont Abbey by 28, 94-66, in the NAIA Tournament.
Carson-Newman (27-5) shot at least 50 percent in three of the four quarters. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored a game-high 17 points going 7-for-11 from the field to move past Shari Buford and into third on the school's all-time scoring list.
"I don't have to worry about handling the ball as much," Wykle said. "I was still able to get some good looks. Something that has been preached a lot in our locker room is that players make plays especially this time of year. I think we have do it so far and we need to continue to execute it."
Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) added 15 points chipping in seven assists and six rebounds. Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) tacked on 14 points with seven rebounds and Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) added 13 points. Sydney Pearce (Johnson City, Tenn.) racked up eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks to bring her career tally to 133, good for fourth on the program's all-time list.
"I was 0-for-4 in the first half and I said I need to contribute somehow whether it is rebounds or getting my shot," Byrd said. "Every time Braelyn would drive I would follow her up in case they double teamed her like they always do. I was right there and I was able to knock the shot down."
�� Biggest NCAA Tournament win in school history
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) March 12, 2022
�� Big second half
�� @AddisonByrd3 filling it up
�� @CNwbasketball is on to the round of 32 pic.twitter.com/mLHDfNpGxb
The Lady Eagles came out firing scoring the game's first eight points capped by a Wilson three with 7:44 to go in the opening period. However the club failed to score for nearly four minutes giving up 10 unanswered points to fall behind. C-N closed the frame on a 7-0 surge to go ahead 18-14 after a quarter.
Spanning the frames, the Bulldogs went nearly six minutes without scoring and pulled within 20-17 before Mincey's crew ripped off 10 straight and a 19-3 overall scoring surge to get a 13-point lead at 30-17 with 3:18 to go before halftime. The Orange and Blue could not maintain the margin as the Bulldogs scored nine of the final 11 to make it a 32-26 game at halftime.
To open the third, the four seed scored eight of the first 11 points to pull within a 35-34 margin with 7:33 on the clock. Carson-Newman responded rattling off 17 straight, its second-longest scoring run of the year, capped by a bucket from Byrd to make it a 52-34 contest. Overall the Lady Eagles shot 53 percent in the third and finished on a 24-4 burst to lead by 21, 59-38, going into the fourth.
Wingate scored 27 points behind 10 foul shots in the fourth quarter but C-N shot 56 percent to ensure that the Bulldogs could not pull any closer than 15.
C-N snaps Wingate's three-game opening round NCAA winning streak knocking the Bulldogs out in the opening round for the first time since 2016. The Lady Eagles improve to 9-6 against the Bulldogs in the postseason evening the series in the NCAA Tournament.
The club held the SAC Player of the Year, Bryanna Troutman, to 10 points on 2-for-14 shooting. Jaia Wilson led the way with 13 points and Hannah Clark chipped in a dozen. The Lady Eagles yielded a 36 percent shooting margin in the game.
The Lady Eagles will take on top-seeded and seventh-ranked North Georgia on Saturday night at 7:30 in the regional semifinals. Broadcast coverage airs on the Eagle Sports Network starting at 7:15 for "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live free of charge.
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