C-N Women's Basketball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman plays its final home game of the 2016 calendar year Wednesday night at 6 p.m. against the Catawba College Catawba Indians at Holt Fieldhouse in a South Atlantic Conference competition.
The Lady Eagles are looking to get momentum rolling Wednesday night after defeating Queens (N.C.) 95-67 Saturday afternoon. C-N has won back-to-back games just one time this season.
"They are having a great year," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said of Catawba. "Terri Rogers and Bri Johnson in particular are having a fantastic season. We know that we have a big challenge ahead of us considering they have beaten us a lot lately. If you want to have any chance of being in the top four in the league, you have to win home games."
Carson-Newman (5-4, 2-1) is seeking its first win over Catawba (6-2, 3-0) since a 73-65 win on the road on Dec. 6, 2014 having lost the last four meetings. The Indians hold the lead in the all-time series 39-25 as Wednesday marks the 65th meeting.
Catawba swept the season series in 2015-16 trailing for a total of 52 seconds in the two contests. The Lady Eagles took a three-point lead in the fourth quarter of the most recent outing before a 10-2 run gave the Indians the edge for an 82-78 win on Feb. 6, 2016.
Bri Johnson led all scorers with 31 points on 12 of 20 shooting marking the first time a Carson-Newman opponent scored 31 points since her teammate, Jada Huntley, scored 31 in the SAC quarterfinals on March 4, 2015.
Catawba edged out L-R for sixth on the preseason coaches' poll as the Indians placed Johnson, second in the SAC with 15.8 points per game, on the preseason first-team All-SAC following a first-team selection last year. Terri Rogers also picked up a first-team nod.
The Indians are one of three remaining teams in the SAC that have yet to lose a league game. Their three conference wins have come against foes with a combined record of 1-8 in the SAC in Coker (1-2), Mars Hill (0-3) and Tusculum (0-3).
With 10.3 steals per game, Catawba forces 20.6 turnovers per game, the third-most in the league and 43rd most in the nation. The Indians pull down 44.9 rebounds per night, 28th in the country. 17 boards per evening come at the offensive end to rank 21st nationally.
On the offense end of the floor, Catawba scores 75.8 points per game, third in the SAC. No team is better at getting to the free-throw line as the Indians have attempted 198 foul shots and make 73 percent at the stripe.
Rogers and Johnson rank first and third respectively in the conference in scoring per game with 19.9 and 17.9. Rogers has five double-doubles this season ranking second in field-goal percentage (53.9) and fourth in rebounds per game (10.3). No player has been to the charity stripe more this season in the league that Rogers with 47 attempts.
Johnson ranks in the top 10 in the league in 13 different statistical categories. Only three players in the league post more minutes per game than Johnson's 35.1 while she ranks second in three-pointers made (22) and four in three-point percentage (37.9).
There are three broadcast options for Wednesday evening's affair thanks to the work of the Eagle Sports Network. Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM is the radio home in the Lakeway region while audio and video streams are available on cneagles.com/live beginning at 5:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off".
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