JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite leading at halftime for a ninth straight time to begin the season, Carson-Newman (7-2, 2-1 SAC) was unable to replicate an excellent shooting first half, falling on the road to Anderson (8-2, 1-2 SAC) 82-69, Saturday afternoon inside the Abney Athletic Center.
"We played pretty well offensively in the first half," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "Braelyn played really well, she was eight of 11 from the field. She was obviously carrying us from that standpoint. She doesn't find the bottom of the net in the second half and neither does anyone else. It's quite embarrassing actually. I think we played up to our potential in the first half and played like one of the worst teams in the league in the second. Give credit to Anderson. They played well. We didn't handle the outside stuff as well as Anderson did.
The first quarter was filled with lead changes. The opening frame featured 11 different lead changes and three ties. After trailing by 1 with four minutes to go, C-N scored ten of the final 16 points and led by three after the first.
Anderson went on a pair of mini scoring bursts in the second period. After going up 31-24, AU responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game at the 8:03 mark. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) made a second straight basket to give C-N the lead back. Then came the Trojans' second mini scoring run, this one of seven points to lead 37-33 with 6:12 to go.
Wykle continued to carry the Eagles offense in the second quarter, scoring the next seven points on two mid-range shots and a three-pointer that gave C-N the lead back with 3:33 until halftime. A pair of Trojan jump shots gave the home team the lead back, but Wykle stepped up again for the Eagles. She scored seven consecutive points again and put Carson-Newman up by six points at halftime. Wykle scored 18 straight points for the Lady Eagles in the final nine minutes of the first half. The Lady Eagles shot 54% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc in the opening half.
The Lady Eagles were able to maintain their halftime lead early in the third, but then scoring droughts began to doom C-N. They did not score for the next four minutes, while AU took advantage by going on a 7-0 run to go up by 2 with four minutes left in the third period. A Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) layup ended the drought momentarily. The layup turned out to be C-N's final basket of the period and AU scored the final ten points to lead by ten after three quarters. Carson-Newman shot 4-17 from the field in the third quarter, while the Trojans shot 10-15 and nailed all four three-pointers. AU outscored C-N 25-9.
The scoring woes continued into the fourth, as it took C-N nearly two minutes to get its first basket. The made shot came on a Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) three-pointer to trim the deficit to single digits with 8:18 to go. That shot was followed by a Skylar Boshears (LaFollete, Tenn.) layup to make it a seven-point game, but C-N would get no closer and would go the final eight seven minutes of the game without a basket. An 8-0 AU run increased the lead to 15 with four minutes to play. The Lady Eagles scored their final eight points from the charity stripe.
Carson-Newman shot 14% in the fourth quarter and 6-31 in the second half. 22 second half points is the lowest this season.
Wykle finished with 20 points, 18 of which came in the second quarter. Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) recorded her fourth double-double this season, going for 13 points and 10 rebounds. Boshears finished with nine points and three rebounds, while Penland scored eight and had six boards.
Zamiya Passmore led AU with 20 points on eight of 13 shooting. 15 of those points came in half number two. She also had a team-high four assists. Brittany Stafford had 19 and made five threes. Ashlyn Sheridan pitched in 15, while Nelliah Wilson had 11 before fouling out in the 4th quarter.
Carson-Newman wraps up its pre-Christmas slate with a December 19th matchup against Saginaw Valley. Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 11:45 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.
