SALISBURY, N.C. – Drilling 14 three-pointers, 21st-ranked Catawba exploded in the second half overshadowing a career effort by Harli Smith as Carson-Newman's nine-game South Atlantic Conference winning streak was snapped on Saturday at Goodman Gym by the final tally of 94-85.
"They have a nice squad and a lot of veteran leadership," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "They can go inside and then they have the outside punch. When a team is playing that way and granted some of that is us because we struggle to guard true size in the post. If a team is shooting as well as they did, even with us scoring 85 points you can't beat them."
The Lady Eagles had won six straight at Goodman Gym dropping a contest for the first time since Dec. 16, 2015 as Catawba (18-4, 10-2) put an end to the nine-game SAC winning streak for Carson-Newman (14-7, 9-2).
Smith finished with a game-high 32 points going 11-for-19 from the field and 8-for-11 at the free-throw line. The Jamestown, Tenn. native added 14 rebounds and five assists.
"She's playing basically our five," Mincey said. "She is very crafty around the rim and was able to find her way to the rim quite a bit using that great footwork that she has. We need that scoring punch because she can do that against bigger defenders. It was really a complete effort. She got some inside buckets, shots in transitions, got to the free-throw line and hit both her threes. We needed it."
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) saw her personal six-game streak of scoring at least 20 points come to an end but the junior scored 18 points on six of 10 shooting.
Trailing 6-4 in the opening minutes, Carson-Newman used a 12-5 run to take a 16-11 advantage that held up at the end of the first quarter seeing the visitors lead 23-18 behind 10 points from Smith.
Holding Catawba without points over a 3:16 stretch forcing nine straight misses, C-N was able to build up an eight-point lead with 3:30 to play in the half. However, Catawba scored seven points in 13 seconds and closed the half on a 12-3 scoring run to take a 41-40 edge into the locker room.
Out of the gates, C-N scored 13 of the first 18 points to regain a seven-point lead at 53-46 only to give up 11 in a row to fall in a 57-53 hold with 5:31 to go in the third. Catawba later used a 9-0 outburst to build a double-digit lead before settling for a 73-65 advantage going to the fourth.
The margin ballooned to 16 midway through the final period with the Lady Eagles narrowing the gap to six with 39 seconds to play making six of their final eight shots but the rally fell short.
Catawba extends its home winning streak to 13 in a row, the sixth-longest active mark in the country as the club went 14-for-28 from beyond the arc and 21-for-49 from inside of the three-point stripe. The Indians forced 17 turnovers and turned that into 22 points.
All five starters scored in double figures as Lyrik Thorne paced the way with 29 draining seven trifectas adding five assists. Sara McIntosh added 15 points, nine boards and six assists. Janiya Downs tossed in 14 points and Jada Porter and Mercedes Wampler each scored 13.
The Lady Eagles are back on the road on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. visiting Mars Hill. Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 5:15 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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