SALISBURY, N.C. – After a 17-day break, Carson-Newman is ready to hit the hardwood for the first time in a new decade when it travels to Goodman Gym Saturday for a 2 p.m. opening tip against 19th-ranked and one of eight remaining flawless teams in Division II Catawba for a South Atlantic Conference showdown.
Senior guard Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) leads the nation in two categories, double-doubles with nine and total rebounds with 141. She has scored in double figures in 14 consecutive games with a double-double in 12 of those affairs dating back to the end of her junior year. With 43 career double-doubles and an 11.1 career rebounding average, Marosites is third among active Division II players while ranking ninth and eighth respectively across all three levels.
In the 69th all-time meeting with Catawba (10-0, 5-0), Mike Mincey's squad looks to continue its six-game winning, the longest for the school in the history of the series. The Indians lead 37-31 and C-N is just 11-22 at Goodman Gym but has won three consecutive for the first time in the series. The Indians last won a game against the Orange and Blue on Feb. 6, 2016, an 82-78 decision at Holt Fieldhouse.
During the six-game winning streak, the Lady Eagles have scored at least 80 points in each contest winning by at 28, 31 and 33 in three of the last four outings. Catawba has held a lead for a grand total of 23:44 of the possible 240 minutes during the stretch.
In the 12th game of the year, Carson-Newman (7-4, 3-2) is playing its fourth ranked team winning one of the first three, all on the road. In the first three contests, the Lady Eagles have led for at least 11 minutes in each game being tied or on top for 74:38 of the 120 possible minutes.
Overall under Mincey, the team holds a 13-9 upper hand against top 25 clubs in his nine seasons with an even 4-4 record on the road. This is the second time in his tenure that he will go against a club that is 10-0 or better falling 72-65 on Jan. 25, 2017 at sixth-ranked Lincoln Memorial as the Railsplitters improved to 18-0.
Catawba had two players picked on preseason All-SAC squads but was tabbed for a sixth-place finish in the preseason coaches' poll. Talia Barnes and Taisha Deshazo are the second-highest scoring duo returning after combining for 25 points per night in 2018-19.
Coach Terrence Baxter's team is off to its best start in program history checking in as a ranked team for the first time since the 2001-02 season, its only other year ranked, when it spent five weeks in the top 25 rising to the No. 17 slot.
There are a total of eight remaining undefeated teams in America after the Indians beat Wingate by 20 on Thursday with their 10-game winning streak sitting as the eighth-longest in Division II. With a plus-21.1 scoring margin, the team has the 13th-best differential in the country winning seven by at least 15 and only three by single digits. The closest score came on Nov. 16, a six-point triumph at Fayetteville State.
Despite turning the ball over at a high rate, 19 per game ranking 231st, Catawba is forcing the third-most turnovers in the country at 27. Every opponent has given the ball away at least 22 times leading to an average of 27 points off of turnovers. On the year, 32 percent of the team's points are scored off a turnovers for a club that ranks 11th nationally in scoring at 83 a night.
The Indians are committing the fifth-most fouls on average per game with 24 on average while yielding the worst three-point percentage of any team in the league at 36 percent.
Deshazo is the team's leading scorer at 18 points per game ranking fourth in the league. She has four nights with at least 20 points this year including a 42-point outburst in a win over UVa-Wise on Dec. 7 that netted the guard USBWA National Player of the Week laurels.
The Eagle Sports Network has the broadcast of the contest locally on 106.3 WPFT-FM with an audio stream available for free on cneagles.com/live starting 15 minutes before tip-off with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off.
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