JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Kayla Marosites became the 27th Lady Eagle in program history to score 1,000 points in a Carson-Newman uniform but an untimely fourth-quarter drought saw the home club fall 95-89 to Wingate Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.
The Elizabethton, Tenn. native finished the game with 17 points and 13 rebounds over 30 minutes on the hardwood raising her career total to 1,002 points in the Orange and Blue.
Carson-Newman (5-2, 1-1) led by double figures on multiple occasions including a 12-point differential with 43 seconds to go in the third quarter. The Bulldogs surged scoring 24 of the next 33 to take an 86-83 edge with 2:10 to go. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) answered with a game-tying triple 20 seconds later to knot the tally again.
Wingate (5-2, 1-1) buried three-points on back-to-back trips producing a differential that the Lady Eagles could never overcome. C-N started the fourth frame by shooting 2-for-11 with five turnovers. All told, C-N gave it away six times leading to 11 points off of turnovers in the fourth.
"We started giving up easy stuff on this end," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We had a bunch of mishaps defensively leaving guys open. We couldn't make shots in the fourth quarter, got outscored by 14 and missed 10 free throws in our home gym.
"It seemed like every time we would get a lead, we are coming down to try to score, we would make a boneheaded play. There was a point in the fourth quarter. We miss a short jumper. Wingate gets a layup, we turn it over and Wingate gets another layup. We lost all momentum and you saw how the rest of the game went. We didn't do the things necessary to win the basketball game."
Both teams came out of the gates with efficient shot making but the Lady Eagles missed eight of their final nine shots of the first frame watching Wingate use a 13-0 burst to go on top 28-17 after the opening 10 minutes of play.
C-N opened the second stanza on a 12-2 run to pull within a point before the two clubs began trading punches. The largest lead for either side over the final seven minutes was three points. Chanler Geer (Knoxville, Tenn.) buried a left-corner triple in the waning seconds to put the home crew on top 48-46 at the break.
Wingate shot 65 percent in the first half after posting a 76 percent margin in the first frame but turned the ball over nine times leading to a dozen points. Seven different players scored at least eight points.
Trailing by a point two minutes into the third quarter, C-N ripped off a 15-3 run to stretch the difference to double digits with 4:15 to go in the period. A Sydney Pearce (Johnson City, Tenn.) foul shot with 43 ticks on the clock before Teliyah Jeter scored five of the final six points of the stanza to make it a 75-67 contest entering the fourth.
Four C-N players finished in double figures with Wykle leading the way with 20 points adding six assists while shooting 8-for-15 from the field.
Kelci Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) added 19 points making five of nine from long range tacking on six boards and three assists. Tori Griffin (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) had 10 and Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) registered nine points and 10 rebounds.
Carson-Newman entered the game ranked 16th in the country in team free-throw percentage at 80 percent but went 15-for-25 at the stripe in the game.
Six Bulldogs finished in double figures on the night becoming the first C-N foe in 46 games and 649 days when Lincoln Memorial did so on Feb. 21, 2018 to produce six double-digit scorers.
Jasmine Stephen paced the crew with 18 points and seven assists and Destiny Coleman added 16 points and 10 boards. Wingate went 24-for-36 combined between the first and fourth quarters.
The Lady Eagles get a week off before returning to the hardwood next Saturday, Dec. 7, to visit No. 17 Anderson at 2 p.m. The game will air on cneagles.com/live and on the flagship station, 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville).
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