VIDEO: Tori Rutherford Interview
VIDEO: Lindsey Taylor Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (5-1) used an impressive offensive fourth quarter to outscore Belmont Abbey (4-3) by 14 points and run away with a 79-67 victory inside Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday evening.
The Lady Eagles stay unbeaten at home this year at 4-0 and have won three of the four home games by double digits.
"Experience was big for us in the 4th," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "We just made some shots to score 29 points in that fourth quarter. It honestly felt like a game that was getting ready to slip away from us, I've seen it happen with this group before. We just had a great stretch run there where we scored the ball to build that lead and then to hold on there at the end."
Trailing 6-2 in the first two minutes, C-N used an 8-0 scoring run to lead 10-6 halfway through the opening frame. C-N never relinquished the lead when it grabbed it and led 19-16 after one.
The Lady Eagles carried momentum into the second and started the quarter on a 12-0 scoring run that saw Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.), Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) and Emily Gonzalez all hit three-pointers to increase the lead to 15 points. Belmont Abbey responded well and outscored C-N 14-4 in the final six minutes of the second quarter to only trail by five points at halftime.
Belmont Abbey stayed within one possession for most of the third quarter and eventually gained its first lead since the first few minutes on a Catherine Hendershott basket to make it 50-48. The Crusaders led by two heading to the fourth quarter. It was the first time all season that C-N trailed when heading into the final ten minutes.
BAC kept the two-point advantage into the early part of the fourth quarter, but Carson-Newman went on a scoring run. Wykle and Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) scored seven straight points in 60 seconds to put C-N up by five, halfway through the fourth. An Abigail Crain jump shot split up, what would be another C-N run. This one was an 8-0, that saw Wykle nail a pair of triples to grow the lead to 11 with 2:43 to go in the contest. BAC never got any closer than nine late in the 4th, as C-N pulled away to win by 12. The 29-point fourth quarter outburst was C-N's most points in a fourth quarter this season.
Carson-Newman's defense was strong once again, holding Belmont Abbey to 37% shooting and 35% shooting beyond the arc. The Lady Eagles have held all six of their opponents to below 40% shooting this season.
The defense mustered up 11 steals and 9 blocks and scored 25 points off 18 forced turnovers. C-N has now scored 124 points off turnovers this year.
The Lady Eagles scored 40 of their 79 points in the paint, outscoring BAC in the paint by 16.
Taylor led all scorers with 22 points on 10 for 14 shooting, her second straight 20-point game. Wykle followed in behind, scoring 19 points while nailing four of her six threes. Rutherford and Boshears also scored in double-figures, scoring 10 points each on an efficient four of seven from the field.
"To be a complete basketball team, we have to have a lot of people chip in," Mincey said. "It can't be the Lindsey and Braelyn show every game. Obviously, we need them to show up and play well, but it can't be just those two. We have a lot of people capable of giving us scoring.
Rutherford led C-N with a season-high seven assists and had a team-high four steals in the win. The Lady Eagles assisted on 26 of their 30 made field goals. Boshears and Alvey each had season highs in assists with six and five respectively.
"Coach Mincey and Coach Dusty (Nickles) did really good about telling us in film about what they were going to do," Rutherford said. "They hedged ball screens a lot and we worked on that and repped that in practice a lot. We showed that if we can swing it fast and get Lindsey on the block, we could be successful. It was good to see us share the ball. We are learning a lot, and hopefully by the end of the season we can see that assist number even higher."
BAC won the rebounding battle by six boards and had five more offensive. Crain and Hendershott each scored 19 in a losing effort for the Crusaders.
Carson-Newman gets ten days off and laces it up again on December 9th for its SAC opener against Limestone at 2:00 pm. 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. A live stream of the game is available with a subscription to FloSports.
