VIDEO: Madison Bunch Interview
MARS HILL, N.C. – With six players in uniform for Mars Hill, No. 5 Carson-Newman journeyed to Stanford Arena Wednesday evening and notched a 106-48 rout of the Lions in South Atlantic Conference play making a conference record 19 three-pointers.
"With only six players they were going to have to play zone," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We don't see zone a lot. I guess it's kind of good we saw a zone tonight. We had to come on the road and shoot the ball outside. It started with Kayla Marosites in the first quarter making however many she made. It carried on with different people. Bunch came in the fourth quarter. We have so many shooters across the board that when we see a zone we can make them."
Prior to Wednesday evening, two teams had made 18 long distance jumpers as Tusculum did so on March 27, 2007 and Brevard did so on Jan. 17, 2009.
The triple-digit scoring output marks the first such effort on the road in 2,927 days and 238 games when the team produced 114 at Brevard on Jan. 20, 2010. It is the eighth overall 100-point game of the season for the team.
Carson-Newman (19-1, 11-1) has now beaten Mars Hill (1-19, 0-12) in 11 of the last 12 meetings as the Lions home losing streak moves to 10 straight, the third-longest in America, and to 18 games on the year.
Val Pokrovskaya buried a triple with 9:35 to play in the first quarter to give Mars Hill a 3-2 lead. It was a margin that lasted 12 seconds as Haris Price (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) buried a three-pointer from the left wing to start a 19-0 spurt for C-N. The Lady Eagles put up a season-high 32 points in the first frame and led 32-10 after 10 minutes.
The Lions peeled the deficit down to 20 points at 38-18 with 6:27 to go in the half only to see C-N score 14 straight points to make it 52-18. Thirty-three was margin at halftime with Mincey's team on top 54-21 despite shooting 37 percent from the field in the second quarter.
A pair of 9-0 runs were sandwiched around a deuce to push the lead to 78-28. Carson-Newman's first five makes in the third quarter were all from long range as the team went 7-for-13 from deep in the frame overall and bolstered the lead to 83-33 entering the fourth.
The Lady Eagles made five more triples in the fourth quarter with Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) hitting the record of 19 from the left wing with 3:25 to go in the game.
Six players scored in double figures as C-N registered 32 assists on 38 made buckets in the game. The Lady Eagles racked up 17 steals scoring a season-high 37 points off of Mars Hill's giveaways.
Madison Bunch (Morristown, Tenn.) scored a career-high 19 points in 15 minutes of play going 7-for-13 from the field and 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.
"I felt like our main goal was to reach 100 points," Bunch stated. "With us having a nice lead I thought that it wasn't going to hurt to shoot. I just pulled it and everyone else kept throwing it to me so it was good teamwork."
Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) notched a double-double for the seventh time on the year with 18 points and 13 rebounds in 19 minutes on the floor.
Her twin sister, Kelci, finished with 16 points on six of nine shooting from the field adding four caroms and three assists.
Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.) had 15 points, four assists and three steals while Price added 11 points, seven helpers and three pilfers.
Byrd played 18 minutes on the night and put up 10 points while grabbing a career-high seven caroms and handing out a career-best four assists.
All 13 healthy players on the roster played at least 11 minutes with no C-N athlete cresting 20 minutes of action on the night.
Mariah Johnson was the top player for coach Jenny Finora producing 20 points on five of nine from deep and hauling in six rebounds. Pokrovskaya finished with 10 points and four boards but turned the ball over seven times.
C-N continues its road swing Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. against the Coker Cobras in Hartsville, S.C. The Eagle Sports Network has the call locally on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45.
1⃣0⃣6⃣ Points
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) January 25, 2018
1⃣9⃣ @SAC_Athletics record three-pointers
1⃣9⃣ points from @madisonbunch33
6⃣ double-digit scores
1⃣ @CNwbasketball win pic.twitter.com/jEfjT4PZsm
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