Carson-Newman Women's Basketball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The start of the 2016-17 season sends Carson-Newman to Harrogate, Tenn. to compete in the South Atlantic Conference/Peach Belt Challenge Friday at 6 p.m. versus USC Aiken and Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. against 17th-ranked Lander.
"I think every year that we have played the exhibitions it has helped us in terms of preparing to play these type of games," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We consider ourselves already into our fourth game instead of just being our first game. The exhibitions allow us to knock the rust off in terms of going on the road. It's a new set of challenges because you know that the win or loss actually counts. We have done well in the last two years in this challenge but all of those games have been one- or two-possession games."
Carson-Newman holds an 11-5 record in lid-lifters since the beginning of the 2000-01 season including wins in each of the last three seasons and a 3-2 mark under Mincey. The last setback in a season opener came on Nov. 9, 2012 in Harrogate, a 59-56 setback to Coker.
Carson-Newman and USC Aiken meet for the 10th time on the hardwood with the Lady Eagles holding a 6-3 edge in the series. C-N has won each of the last two contests as the Pacers last win in the series was the season opener in 2010, a 62-36 Aiken win.
Last year's meeting saw C-N go 9-for-17 from three-point range, its highest triple clip in two years, to hold off a late rally in a 67-63 win. The Lady Eagles had their largest lead of the day at 60-49 with 5:40 to play but went 12-for-21 at the free-throw line to keep Aiken in the game. Tatum Burstrom led all players with 18 points while Alexis Ware had 17 for USC Aiken.
USC Aiken is coming off of a 9-19 season a year ago where it lost its final six games of the year and 10 of its final 11. The last victory came on Feb. 3, a 57-55 win at UNC Pembroke. Peach Belt coaches selected USC Aiken 10th out of 14 teams in the preseason poll.
The Pacers have lost three times in season openers dating back to the 2005-06 season, both times to the Lady Eagles, 2005, 2014 and 2015.
First-year coach Mark Miller has taken over the reins of the program after a 10-year run at Holy Family University. He went 223-74 with seven 20-year campaigns on his resume.
The Pacers had one of the lowest scoring offenses in the nation last year averaging 61.6 points per night, 221st nationally while ranking last in the PBC and 243rd in the country in rebounds per game with 35.7.
The roster features five newcomers including Georgia transfer Jasmine Carter. The former top-20 shooting guard in the nation played in just 10 games before an injury ended her career with the Bulldogs.
Saturday marks the 13th time the two programs have met on the basketball court with each team holding six wins in the series.
C-N won 73-62 at Lander a season ago making 10 three-pointers in a game that saw the Lady Eagles hold a lead for 37:45. Kailyn Brooks led all players with 22 points on nine of 15 shooting. Ty'Hesha Reynolds paced Lander with 14 points.
Lander earned the No. 2 seed in the Southeast Region in 2016 but bowed out to Francis Marion 62-61 in the opening round. The Bearcats finished the season with a 25-7 overall record and a 16-3 conference mark.
In the preseason PBC coaches' poll, Lander was selected as the favorites receiving 11 first-place votes after winning the conference tournament in 2015-16.
Reynolds and Breshay Johnson were both tabbed to the preseason All-PBC squad. Reynolds was sixth in the league with 14.1 points per game and second with 4.3 assists. Johnson finished third with 16.3 points per night adding 7.8 boards per game.
Lander finished the 2015-16 season ranked 14th in Division in points per game with 78.8 earning 745 trips to the free-throw line, eighth in the nation, and making 507 foul shots, 13th in D2. The 68.1-percent free-throw clip ranked 201st.
The Bearcats were second in the country in steals (395), turnover margin (8.44) and turnovers forced per game (23.63).
Each game will be broadcast on cneagles.com/live as the Eagle Sports Network goes live 15 minutes prior to the start of each game with the Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off.
