GREENVILLE, S.C. – Trailing by 10 points entering the fourth quarter, fourth-seeded Carson-Newman clawed back into the game to pull within two points with 48 seconds remaining before No. 11 and top-seeded Lincoln Memorial made five of its six foul shot attempts down the stretch to beat the Lady Eagles 72-67 in the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championships semifinals Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
Saturday was the third meeting between Carson-Newman (20-10) and Lincoln Memorial (26-3) as the Railsplitters have won each of the three times including victories in 1989 and 1990.
Coach Mike Mincey's group is now 1-3 against ranked teams this season while the program falls to 3-5 against No. 1 seeds in the SAC Championships with losses in each of its last four games.
"The way the game was played in the first half was exactly what we wanted to do," Mincey said. "We tried to get the pace at our time. Instead of them getting it in half court and feed it to the bigs which is very hard to deal with we wanted more quick shots from the perimeter. With the environment in the semifinals and the way the game was going I think both teams lost their legs early. It's the No. 1 and No. 2 scoring team in the league and there weren't a lot of points in the first half."
Lincoln Memorial started the second half by making seven of its first nine shots using an 11-3 run to expand the lead to 10 points at 45-35 with 5:22 remaining in the third quarter. The lead was 11 with 1:59 to play in the third as C-N scored six of the final nine points to pull within eight at 55-47 entering the fourth.
C-N went 7-for-13 from the floor in the fourth quarter using a 9-3 sequence over a four minute span to pull within four points at 64-60. The Lady Eagles pulled within two on two occasions. With 1:35 remaining, a three-pointer from the left wing by Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) made it 65-63. Josey Harding made a layup to make it a four-point game while Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.) answered with a pair of foul shots. C-N turned the ball over on the ensuing possession as the Railsplitters made free throws to close out the game.
The Railsplitters started the game scorching hot missing just two of their first nine attempts but five turnovers leading to five points for the Lady Eagles kept C-N in the contest. Overall, LMU shot 64 percent from the field in the first 10 minutes but held just a three-point lead at 19-16 despite C-N going 6-for-22 from the floor.
The second stanza saw the Lady Eagles fail to score for the first five minutes until Brooks buried a triple from the right wing to make it a one-point game at 20-19. The two sides traded buckets the rest of the half as a pull-up jump shot from Shea Coker with 38 seconds to play gave LMU a 30-28 advantage at halftime.
Wester led all scorers in the game with 19 points while posting three assists in 36 minutes. Brooks notched 15 points making a trio of triples moving into 11th place on the school's scoring list with 1,197 in her career.
Jecca Simerly (Talbott, Tenn.) registered 12 points and six rebounds while Katie Stubblefield (Alcoa, Tenn.) had 10 points going 5-for-7 from the field.
Karsen Sims led the top seed with 18 points going 8-for-13 from the field as Shea Coker added 14 points. Josey Harding finished the game with a double-double going for 15 points and 13 rebounds.
The Lady Eagles will await their NCAA Tournament fate turning their attention to the NCAA's selection show that will be aired online at NCAA.org Sunday night at 10 p.m. Stay tuned to @CNathletics on Twitter and cneagles.com for all of the latest information concerning the postseason hopes for C-N.
"Our baseketball teams deserves to be in it," Mincey said. "My understanding is that you have to go out and play the best people you can play in our region. That's what we did. Sometimes that's not good enough. Are we one of the top eight teams in our region? Without a question."
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