VIDEO: Makayla Alvey Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Resetting her career-high in scoring with 22 points, Makayla Alvey helped Carson-Newman (21-8) advance past Anderson (21-8) in the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon inside the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center.
Just like she did at home, Alvey delivered yet another massive three-pointer to increase C-N's lead to five points late in contest against the Anderson Trojans. The junior hit her second three-pointer of the game with 63 seconds left that turned out to be the dagger, advancing the Lady Eagles on to the semifinal round.
"We came out in the third quarter and got out in transition much better than we did in the first half and got some buckets near the rim," Carson-Newman head women's basketball head coach Mike Mincey said. "We made some timely shots and made free throws down the stretch. We've seen earlier this year, times where we squander things away, or we didn't defend the right way, or had untimely turnovers. Today, we did a much better job of playing all the way through and securing a big win over a very good basketball team. They're a tough out in this tournament, and they certainly will be next week."
Alvey finished with career-highs in scoring (22) and field goals made (9) in the quarterfinal victory. The junior was active on the glass, finishing with a team-high nine rebounds and also dished out three assists.
""Shoutout to my teammates, coach Mincey and coach Dusty," Alvey said. "Especially Rebecca (Speight) for keeping my body in one piece. Without my teammates, I wouldn't be able to get those open shots that were really big in the second half. They were in foul trouble a lot, so they really didn't want to foul us when we'd drive, so driving and them not fouling gave us easy layups."
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored C-N's first five points to grab the early advantage. AU made six of its first ten shots and led 13-12 with 4:30 to go in the opening quarter. The Lady Eagles went more than four minutes without a basket in the period but only trailed by one point after the first quarter.
Carson-Newman started the second quarter well by scoring eight of the first eleven points to lead by five, four minutes in. AU only made one basket halfway through the second period. Anderson responded by scoring eleven of the next 13 points to grab a four-point lead with 2 minutes until half. Back-to-back buckets from Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) aided by a Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) helped C-N lead by one at intermission.
After an AU bucket to start the half, C-N went on an 11-0 scoring run to grab its largest lead of the game at ten points with 5:45 left in the third quarter. The lead grew by as many as 13 points, but AU managed to score the final six points of the period to only trail by five entering the fourth quarter.
Anderson drew within one-point multiple times early in the fourth quarter but C-N got six straight points from Penland made it a seven-point game with six minutes to go. The Trojans clawed back within a bucket on multiple occasions and were within two with 2:18 to go. Just over a minute later, Alvey knocked down the three and C-N made four free throws to ice the game.
Despite an off-shooting night, Wykle scored 17 points and got eight from the free throw line. Two other Eagles got in double-figures with Penland scoring 14 and Taylor scoring 13.
After getting outscored in the paint in the first two meetings, C-N ended this game plus four in the painted area. The Lady Eagles were also effective on the glass, outrebounding Anderson 47-36.
"Something big when playing Anderson is not letting them get second chance points," Mincey said. "For the most part, we stopped them from getting points after the first shot which is really big because that's when they do end up scoring. Getting those rebounds and pushing it fast and being able to make the shots we were able to make helped us come out with the win."
Anderson was led by Ashlyn Sheridan who made five three-pointers to finish with 17 points. AU shot above 40% from the field and from three-point range.
The Lady Eagles improve their quarterfinal record to 19-5 and are back in the semifinals for the first time since winning the league title in 2022.
The win advances Carson-Newman into the SAC semifinals, setting them up for a third matchup against Lenoir-Rhyne. Tipoff between the Lady Eagles and Bears is slated for 2:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 2:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
