C-N Women's Basketball Game Notes
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – In its final game before Christmas break, Carson-Newman travels to Hickory, N.C. to face Lenoir-Rhyne at Shuford Memorial Gym Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in a South Atlantic Conference outing.
"We knew going into the Catawba game that if we gave up two games we would go into Christmas break under .500," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We are very fortunate to get the Catawba win and now we go into L-R with some good momentum playing pretty decent basketball and scoring it pretty well. The real challenge lies ahead going to L-R."
Carson-Newman is seeking its first road win against Lenoir-Rhyne since a 80-77 win on Dec. 14, 2013 having lost back-to-back efforts. The Lady Eagles hold a 43-27 lead in the all-time series.
Each of the last two seasons the teams have held serve on their home courts to split the season series. The most recent meeting saw the Bears earn a 59-52 victory on Feb. 13, 2016 after starting the game with an 18-2 lead and holding C-N without a point over the final 2:41 to earn the win.
L-R shot just 28 percent from the floor but made 26 foul shots. Jai Jai McLaughlin led the Lady Eagles in scoring with 13 points while Katie Stubblefield (Alcoa, Tenn.) chipped in 11 points.
Lenoir-Rhyne tied for eighth in the league in 2015-16 and lost to Anderson 64-48 in the opening round of the SAC Championships last season. There were no Bears represented on the postseason all-conference last year or the preseason list this season as the team was picked to finish seventh this year.
The Bears are 4-0 at home this season and enter Saturday's contest riding a three-game winning streak with home wins over Brevard, Greensboro and Tusculum. Foes are averaging just 35.8 points per game at Shuford Memorial Gym in 2016.
L-R sports the best scoring defense in the nation this year having allowed an average of 46.8 points per game through the first eight outings. Opponents have scored more than 50 points just three times this year. Lincoln Memorial has scored the most points this year posting 73 on Nov. 30 in a 22-point win. The next closest is 58 at Wingate in a 58-42 setback.
"When we have won games, we have gotten off to a hot start," Mincey said. "I think that puts a lot of pressure on the other team to match our scoring mentality. I don't know how much L-R is going to take the air out of the ball. They want to get it near the rim and score on one-footers. Their defense has been playing really well, mostly man-to-man. They are athletic and can put pressure on you in that man-to-man setting. We have to go over there and put the ball in the basket early."
The Bears field-goal percentage defense leads the league and ranks fifth in the nation allowing 31.5 percent this season. Wingate shot 40 percent and LMU registered a 40.7 percent mark as the only two teams to shoot above 40 percent on the year.
At the other end of the floor, L-R is scoring just 56.1 points per game to rank 285th in the nation out of 300 programs. Chelsey Romero is the only player on the roster to average in double figures at 10.6 points per game, 23rd in the league. The post player is second in the conference in field-goal percentage at 58 percent while reeling in 6.3 rebounds per night.
The game will be broadcast on the airwaves on Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM in the Lakeway Region and online at cneagles.com/live as the Eagle Sports Network's coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off".
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