GAFFNEY, S.C. – Limestone drilled 15 three-pointers and shot 49 percent from the field pulling away after a tight opening period to beat Carson-Newman 102-73 in South Atlantic Conference action Wednesday at the Timken Center.
"Today the ball bounced Limestone's way," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "It didn't bounce our way. It's funny how basketball is. It's hard to be consistent and right now we aren't very consistent with how we are playing. Credit Limestone they played great. They hit 15 threes and we had a hard time stopping them. Late in the second quarter when they went on that run, that was the undoing and we couldn't get traction to get back into the game."
The Lady Eagles were undefeated on Wednesdays last season and had won 14 straight entering this year but have lost twice in the first month of the year. Carson-Newman (4-5, 0-2) remains winless in Gaffney as the Saints picked up their largest win in the series.
Mincey's team had allowed 100-plus points twice in his 12-year tenure, both in overtime, as Limestone (4-5, 1-1) becomes the first team to score triple digits in regulation against C-N since Kennesaw State won 106-89 on Nov. 16, 1996.
Three players finished in double figures for the visitors. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) tallied a team-high 17 points with Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) who added five rebounds. Kali McMahan (Dandridge, Tenn.) chipped in 13 points and six boards. While that group went 15-for-33 from the floor, the rest of the club made eight of 31.
Both sides came out of the locker room flying with Limestone making its first five shots and Carson-Newman draining four in a row. After the Lady Eagles grabbed a 16-13 edge, the Saints scored nine of the final 10 points holding C-N without a bucket in the final 2:23 to go ahead 22-17 after a period.
Midway through the second quarter, the Lady Eagles closed the gap to two at 33-31 before going cold. Limestone used a 16-3 outburst capped by a halfcourt buzzer beater by Quin Byrd to take a 49-34 lead at halftime. The 15-point margin was the second-largest halftime deficit faced by the group this year.
Despite shooting 53 percent from the field in the third quarter, the Lady Eagles were outscored by four and fell behind by as many as 21 trailing 75-56 entering the fourth.
In the final period, the Lady Eagles scored eight straight to trim the deficit to 79-65 with 7:30 to go in the game but Limestone responded with a 10-0 surge to pull away.
Entering Wednesday the Saints were being outrebounded by an average of seven per night ranking 257th in the country but won the battle on the evening by a 51-34 tally. The team had 17 offensive rebounds that led to 20 second-chance points.
Reagan McCray and Quin Byrd combined for 44 points and went 12-for-17 from long distance. McCray posted 24 points burying seven trifectas and Byrd added 20 points with five rebounds and five assists.
Kalisha Hill added 15 points and eight boards and Amara Newsome tossed in a dozen. The Saints picked up 30 points from the bench and shot 49 percent from the field drilling 15 trifectas.
The Lady Eagles return to Mossy Creek on Saturday at 2 p.m. welcoming UVA Wise to Holt Fieldhouse. Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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