VIDEO: Campbell Penland Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As the Lady Eagles get ready for the 2023-24 season, it is time to preview the roster with a look at the backcourt with help from junior Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.).
Head coach Mike Mincey returns almost all his backcourt from this past season. Of nearly 90 percent of scoring that returns to this year's team, 83 percent of it came from the backcourt. A combined 302 career appearances and 175 career starts return in the backcourt as well.
Headlining the strong group of returnees is graduate student Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.). The 4-time All-SAC pick is coming off another stellar season in which she averaged nearly 21 points per game, shooting 43% from behind the arc and 48% from the field. Those incredible splits led her to being named a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American, the second ever in program history. She has 99 career double digit games and has scored 20 points or more 56 times. Wykle enters the year 202 points away from becoming the school's all-time scoring leader.
"She is a great player and a great role model for me to look up to," Penland said. "It's been such an honor to play with her and get to learn and grow from her."
Penland returns for her junior season after averaging 12.5 points per game and 6.1 rebounds, both marks that were second most this past season. Starting in every game for C-N, she increased her points per game by three points from her freshman season. The junior has 34 career double digit performances. She ended her sophomore season shooting 86.7% from the charity stripe, a mark that was 35th best nationally.
"The experience is really helping a lot," Penland said. "I came in as a freshman and got on the all-freshman team, I just did what I had to do that year. Now, I'm pushing to try and do more for my team and what's needed from me to continue to grow as a player."
Joining Penland and Wykle as experienced returnees is junior Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) and sophomore Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.). Alvey played in the first 13 games of the season before missing the final 16 contests with a knee injury. She averaged 5.2 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game last season and has 46 career appearances over her first two seasons in Mossy Creek. Rutherford became the third Lady Eagle rookie in the past four years to earn a spot on the all-freshman team. She played in 29 games with eight starts, averaging six points per game and more than a steal per game.
"We have a lot of good players returning," Penland said. "Almost everyone is returning and just having everyone healthy will be key this year, just to build on what we had this year and continue to improve."
A pair of sophomores return to the group in Ashlan Crittenden (Charleston, Tenn.) and Emily Gonzalez (Lenoir City, Tenn.). Crittenden made 18 appearances off the bench, while Gonzalez played in all 29 contests, averaging 12 minutes per game.
"You can see the experience is starting to help them," Penland said. "Just by trying to do more and be more involved and growing and experiencing everything new. Everyone is really improving."
Joining the six returners in the backcourt are freshmen Karli Hayworth (Maryville, Tenn.) and Madelyn Ladd (Harriman, Tenn.). Hayworth joins C-N after racking up more than 1,500 points at Alcoa, good for a scoring average of 17 points per game in addition to more than 350 assists and 350 steals. Ladd is a 5'10 guard from Webb School of Knoxville where she was a 1,000-point scorer. She was a three-time All-State selection and helped lead her team to the Final Four in the 2022 Tennessee State Championship.
In part two of the preseason preview, Keeleigh Rogers takes a glance at the frontcourt that also returns several key contributors. The article will be released on Thursday.
