JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman broke a school record with 15 made three-pointers Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse in a 107-71 victory over King (Tenn.).
"I don't know if we can play any better from an offensive standpoint," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We really challenged them. We didn't play well against Lander and Aiken. We knew there was a whole lot more in the tank. We didn't want people to think that's what Carson-Newman basketball was about. It was great to come here in front of the home crowd. Once we got into a flow it was pretty fun to watch as a coach honestly."
The previous record was 14 set on Feb. 18, 2009 in a 106-84 win against Brevard at Boshamer Gymnasium.
Sophomore forward Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.) scored a game-high 25 points and senior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) finished with 22 points to become the first C-N duo with at least 20 points in a game since Zoriah Williams and Shannon Depew each tallied 21 at Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 29, 2012.
Wester went 10-for-16 from the floor and added 10 rebounds for her first-career double-double to go along with three assists, three steals and two blocks.
"It felt good," Wester said. "I struggled the last three games so coming out tonight and shooting good like everyone tonight. I kept getting these rebounds. Every time in the second half I kept saying 'come to me' with loose balls. There isn't a drop-off on this team and we compete in practice every day. We are all making each other better."
Brooks moved into fourth place on the Lady Eagles' all-time made three-pointers list in the game passing Sandra Collier (129) and Jamia Lockmiller (131) to bring her tally to 134 triples converted in her career.
Carson-Newman (2-1) is now 19-0 all-time against King (2-1) and has won nine straight home openers to push its record to 14-3 in lid-lifters at the friendly confines since the 2000-01 season.
With 60 points in the second half, C-N scored at least 60 in a half for the first time since the second half at Brevard on Jan. 20, 2010 in a 114-64 victory.
The Lady Eagles opened the game by scoring 12 of the first 16 points in the first 4:20 of the contest. The pad held up as C-N was ahead 24-15 after 10 minutes of action holding King to 6-for-19 shooting in the frame.
Carson-Newman started the second quarter on a 10-2 run to the 7:36 mark prompting a timeout from King coach Josh Thompson. The lead expanded to 22 points at 47-25 with 2:33 to play in the opening half. The Tornado closed on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 15 points, 47-32, at the break.
Neither team shot above 40 percent in the first 20 minutes but a total of 19 players scored in the first half. Sophomore forward Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.) led all players with 14 points in the opening stanza making six of nine shot attempts to go along with six rebounds. No one scored double digits for King in the opening half as Emily Kiser led the way with eight points.
Mincey's group exploded for 38 points in the third quarter going 14-for-24 from the floor and five of seven from long range. King closed within 15 points at 57-42 when C-N reeled off a 13-2 run aided by eight points from senior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.). The lead was 85-53 entering the fourth frame for the Lady Eagles.
King made 50 percent of its shots in the fourth quarter but was outscored by four points in the final frame. All 22 points scored by the home team came from the bench in the frame.
Overall in the second half, C-N went 10-for-16 from long distance and the record was broken by freshman guard Tori Griffin (Jefferson City, Tenn.) with 32 seconds to play in the game with a look from the left wing.
The Lady Eagles assisted on 27 of its 38 made shots in the game and outrebounded King 57-31. With 26 offensive rebounds, C-N converted those chances into 29 second-chance points.
Redshirt-junior Katie Stubblefield (Alcoa, Tenn.) had 12 points and registered eight total rebounds, all on the offensive end of the floor.
Sheena Johnson led King with 18 points in the game and Kiser added 11 for Thompson's bunch.
Carson-Newman begins South Atlantic Conference play Tuesday at 6 p.m. when Lincoln Memorial makes the journey to Mossy Creek for a 6 p.m. tip-off. The game will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network on radio on 106.3 WPFT-FM and with video and audio streams available on cneagles.com/live.
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