VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As one of 16 teams in the country without a loss this season, the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (9-0) travel to Owensboro, Ky. this weekend to take part in the Fairfield Inn Christmas Classic. Carson-Newman takes on the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans (4-6) Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. and the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers (5-4) Saturday afternoon.

"To have the start that we've had is great," head coach Mike Mincey said. "It's given us some confidence that we can go out and win different types of games certainly close games. It's a different environment. Even though we played Kentucky Wesleyan last year, it's still unknown opponents. We want to go up there and play well and certainly getting wins would be icing on the cake. To be able to go home 11-0 would be pretty special."

The Lady Eagles will try to get the offense back to form after posting five straight games with at least 70 points, Carson-Newman has scored just 57 and 61 in its last two outings. In those contests the field goal percentage has taken a hit as the Lady Eagles shot 36 and 34 percent from the floor.

"We've just tried to work on ball movement and player movement," Mincey said. "Getting our spacing right and not getting on top of each other is important. We worked a lot on our post entries. That's been an issue of us trying to force it into our posts. The guards have a lot of confidence in our post players. They have been forcing it in there when help-side [defense] is there."

First up is the first ever meeting with Trevecca Nazarene who has lost back-to-back games including a 96-71 decision to No. 2 Lewis University Monday night. Do-it-all player, Kaci Britt Bell, leads the way for the Trojans as the senior forward leads her team in scoring (12.1), rebounding (6.6), steals (2.3) and blocks (0.7) on the year.

The Lady Eagles will challenge of the host of the Christmas Classic, Kentucky Wesleyan, for the fourth time with the Carson-Newman holding a 2-1 advantage including an 83-71 win at Holt Fieldhouse on December 18, 2013. Junior guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) led a group of five players in double figures with 25 points as she went 7-for-15 from beyond the arc including 22 points in the second half of the game.

Carson-Newman trailed 38-33 at halftime in last year's meeting but outscored the Panthers 50-33 in the second stanza thanks to 53 percent shooting from the field in the frame.

The Panthers enter the weekend having won five straight games by double figures. Senior forward Jordanne Gambill leads Kentucky Wesleyan by averaging 13.6 points per game and she led the Panthers with 15 points a year ago when the two teams met.

Both games will be available on cneagles.com/live and the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station 106.3 WPFT-FM beginning at 3:45 with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-off". 

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