VIDEO: Braelyn Wykle Interview
GLENVILLE, W.V – Despite Braelyn Wykle breaking the Carson-Newman women's basketball scoring record, Carson-Newman (8-3) was unable to overcome a 9-0 Glenville State (8-4) run to end the first half, falling 76-68 Saturday afternoon inside the Waco Center.
Just over five minutes into the game, Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) made her third basket of the quarter and her eighth point to become Carson-Newman women's basketball's all-time leading scorer. The graduate student guard passed Lisa Stogner's 2,333 scoring mark which she achieved from 1980-84.
"I'm very thankful for this program," Wykle said. "Coach Mincey, Coach Burstrom when she was here, Coach Dusty (Nickles), they all took a chance on me coming out of high school. I had two legitimate offers, one of which was Carson-Newman. Stepping on campus, I vowed to myself that I would be the most competitive and hardest working person in the gym. I hope I can say when I leave here that I accomplished that. I'm grateful for my parents, they made this long trip and they don't miss very many games. My sisters and my family they all keep up with me, my teammates over the years, it's been incredible and an amazing experience.
"We really needed her to be a big-time offensive threat for us today," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "She didn't have a great game last time out against Saginaw and we needed every point that she provided for us. Glad to see her get the accomplishment. It's an amazing record and I'm glad I have been around to see all of her games and these performances. She is one of the most consistent basketball players men or women that I have been around. From a performance and mental standpoint, you almost always know what you are going to get out of her and what we got today is what I've seen many many times before."
Wykle got off to an excellent scoring start to break the record early in the game, and her good start translated to success for C-N. She scored 10 first quarter points and the Lady Eagles led 21-18 at the end of the first quarter.
Glenville State began the second quarter with a 7-0 scoring run and took the 25-21 lead two minutes into the 2nd quarter. Two Wykle baskets and a Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) three-pointer got C-N back ahead by four, halfway through the 2nd. With 2:45 until halftime, Mincey's team led by four but saw the Pioneers go on a 9-0 scoring run to gain a five-point halftime lead. It was the first time C-N has trailed at intermission this season.
The Pioneers never let Carson-Newman make it a one-possession game again. They scored the first five points of the second half and gained the largest lead of the afternoon at ten. On multiple occasions, Carson-Newman drew as close as four, but trailed by eight points heading to the fourth quarter.
The Lady Eagles got as close as four again with 70 seconds to go, but Glenville State salted the game away with layups and free throws to secure the 76-68 win.
"We came up here for a reason and that was to get better," Mincey said. "We didn't want to go and find somebody that was going to be an easy win. We knew it was going to be tough to come all the way up here and win on their home floor where they haven't lost a ton and they had a unique style of pressure. For the most part, I thought we handled it okay from a turnover perspective. They get you sped up and out of your sets and we just didn't have enough players outside of Braelyn to make plays."
The fast-paced game saw the two teams combine for 148 shot attempts, with neither side shooting better than 38% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc. Glenville State won the battle on the glass, outrebounding C-N 53-45 and 19-12 on the offensive glass.
The biggest stat discrepancy was points in the paint, where GSU scored 42 points to Carson-Newman's 24.
Wykle finished the game with a game-high 28 points, tying her season-high in scoring. She made six triples, her most in a game this year. Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) was Carson-Newman's only other double-figure scorer with ten points on four of seven shooting. The guard also snared down a team-best eight boards.
Chalon Miles paced Glenville State with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Dejaan Schuler and Hya Haywood both scored in double-digits as well with 14 and 12, respectively.
The Lady Eagles return to the hardwood on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m, when they travel to Harrogate to take on Lincoln Memorial. 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.
