AMERICUS, Ga. – In the first all-time meeting between Carson-Newman and Georgia Southwestern, it was the home team coming out on top, with the Lady Hurricanes holding on for a 62-58 win inside of the Storm Dome on Friday night in Americus, Georgia.
"We made some tough shots early and it wasn't like we were in control of what we wanted to do," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "You get Lindsey (Taylor) in foul trouble, then Ruth (Mbugua) in foul trouble because they really wanted to throw the ball inside. We were lucky to get as far as we did with both of them in the game. After that first quarter, it was kind of a struggle to put the ball in the bucket, very much like it was against Lander. In order to beat teams in this environment, you have to score the basketball."
The Lady Eagles entered the matchup having won six straight road openers.
Carson-Newman drops its first game of the season, in its first road game of the year. Dating back to last season, C-N has now lost five straight true road matchups.
C-N got out to an excellent start as Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn) off the opening tip, took the ball straight to the basket and scored a layup to get the Lady Eagles on the board five seconds into the game. That early momentum propelled C-N to an 8-0 run thanks to three-pointers from Skylar Boshears (LaFollete, Tenn) and Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) in the first three minutes. Georgia Southwestern got within two points with three and a half minutes to go in the first quarter, but C-N ended the first by outscoring GSW 10-4 to lead by eight points.
Neither team made a basket in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter. Eventually, a steal by Jashanti Simmons led to a Ndidamaka Ndukwe layup to start the period's scoring. After a Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn) layup to increase the lead to seven, GSW went on a scoring run. A 9-1 run that spanned more than two minutes tied the game heading down the final stretch of the opening half. Three straight C-N free throws got the Lady Eagles ahead by one at intermission.
Another excellent start to a quarter saw C-N increase the lead back up to seven points after a Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) layup on a pick and roll with Penland. The next possession down, Destiny Garrett hit a triple to make it 41-37. Neither team scored for the next four minutes, until Leianya Massenat hit a corner three to end the drought. Both squads scored ten points in the period and C-N held the narrow one-point lead.
Carson-Newman tied the game back up at 46 with seven minutes to go, but the Lady Hurricanes went on a scoring run. They scored 12 of the next 14 points to go up by ten with under three minutes to play. C-N countered with an 8-0 scoring run, thanks to layups from Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.), Wykle and Keeleigh Rogers (Farragut, Tenn.) and got within two points. After a GSW layup with 30 seconds left, C-N trailed by four. The Lady Eagles executed a perfect baseline out of bounds play that got Alvey open for an easy layup to bring C-N back within two with 21 seconds to go.
After a C-N foul, Leianya Massenat split a pair of free throws to keep the deficit at one possession with 14 seconds left. Wykle missed a jump shot and forced C-N to foul for the last time. Garrett split a pair at the line to make it a two-score game in the closing seconds.
Wykle led all scorers with 16 points, going six for seven from the free throw line. In 22 minutes of action, Boshears was an efficient five for six scoring a season-high 13 points. She also snared down a team-high six boards.
GSW got 10 points apiece from Garrett and Ndukwe. Nine of the ten Lady Hurricanes to play scored at least one field goal.
Neither team lit it up from the field, both shooting 33% from the field and below 30% from beyond the arc. GSW outrebounded C-N 47-36 on the glass and 17-6 offensively. The two teams each made 15 free throws.
Carson-Newman's defense forced 15 more turnovers and managed to score 15 points off the GSW miscues.
The Lady Eagles wrap up the GSW Classic tomorrow afternoon when they match up with Columbus State at 1:00 p.m. inside the Storm Dome. The contest will air on cneagles.com/live and on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM, starting 15 minutes before tip with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off".
A live stream is available at pbcsportsnetwork.com/gswcanes.
