JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Returning home to the friendly confines of Holt Fieldhouse, Carson-Newman (15-7, 9-5 SAC) faces off with Lenoir-Rhyne (16-6, 11-3 SAC) for the second time this season on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. inside Holt Fieldhouse.
C-N has been fantastic at home this season, unbeaten at 11-0. Mike Mincey's team averages 10 more points per game and shoots 45.5% percent from the field. Eight of the 11 home wins have been by double digits with none closer than six points. In conference play at home, C-N has scored 72 points or more in all six contests and has scored 83 or more in five of those games.
Carson-Newman lost back-to-back games for the second time this season and for the first time in league play. After forcing eleven straight opponents to shoot below 38%, the C-N defense has allowed Catawba and Mars Hill to both shoot above 40% in these two most recent losses.
Even with a two-game skid in league play for the first time this season, Carson-Newman (9-5 SAC) is still tied for fourth place in the South Atlantic Conference standings and is only a half game back of third place Anderson (9-4).
The Lady Eagles have done an excellent job passing the ball at a low turnover rate all season long. That was on display Wednesday, committing a season-low eight turnovers. C-N leads the SAC with a 1.14 assist to turnover ratio with Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) and Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) second and third in the SAC, respectively.
Scoring 24 points on Wednesday, Lindsey Taylor now has nine 20-point games this season and 23 in her C-N career. She is second in the country with her 63.6% field goal percentage. Multiple times this season, Taylor has led DII in efficiency. The senior forward is averaging 16.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.
With 133 career games played, Braelyn Wykle is just four appearances away from playing in the most games in program history. Missy Brown holds the record for games played with 136 through the 1978-82 seasons. With 8 points against Mars Hill on Wednesday, Wykle moved into the top ten all-time in scoring among DII players all-time with 2,517 career points. The active career leader in points, three-pointers and field goals made is 54 points away from moving into ninth place on the all-time scoring list.
The Lady Eagles will aim to even the series with LR on Saturday. It was the second half that doomed C-N back on January 13th in Hickory. Carson-Newman was held to a season-low 21 second-half points and made just eight shots after halftime. An 11-point halftime lead dwindled away in the third quarter, but C-N scored the final five points of the period and led by three entering the fourth quarter. Despite making one more shot in the fourth than LR, C-N sent the Bears to the free throw line 12 times, and LR capitalized making eight of them to outscore the Lady Eagles 10-5 in the fourth quarter to secure the comeback win.
Lenoir-Rhyne has dropped 11 of its last 12 games in Holt including five straight contests.
The second place Bears head to Mossy Creek with a 16-6 record and an 11-3 mark in SAC play this season. Lenoir-Rhyne is coming off a pair of home wins over Limestone and Anderson. Lenoir-Rhyne heads to Holt with an impressive 8-4 record on the road this season but has lost its last two road games.
The Bears have played stingy defense all season long because of their zone defense. LR has the number one scoring defense allowing just 61 points per game. LR is excellent at taking care of the basketball, averaging a +7.59 mark in the turnover margin. It only turns it over 12 times a game, the best in the SAC and eighth best in the country.
Blaikley Crooks gets it done on both ends of the floor. She leads the SAC with 52 steals and leads LR averaging 16.7 points per game. Emily Harman and Mikeba Jones also score in double-figures on average at 13 and 11 per night. Harman is third in the SAC with 100 assists this season.
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.