JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the first time in the 2020s, Holt Fieldhouse will entertain basketball as streaking Carson-Newman continues its South Atlantic Conference rising Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. against Queens.
Winners of four straight contests, the Lady Eagles are finding a groove on both ends of the floor. Through the first nine games of the year, the team was averaging 81 points and shooting 43 percent from the field and 37 percent from the three. Over the last four games, those numbers have jumped to 90 points per game, 45 percent from the field (128-283) and 43 percent from distance (38-88).
Take a journey to the other end of the floor and coach Mike Mincey's team was yielding 74 points per game while giving up 41 percent shooting. In the last four games, C-N is holding teams to 61 points and 32 percent shooting (89-274).
Saturday is the 13th installment of Carson-Newman (9-4, 5-2) and Queens (3-10, 2-5) with the Lady Eagles winning each of the last 10, their longest current string against any SAC member, after dropping the first two of the series. Of those 10 victories, all but two have come by double figures with the average margin of victory has been 23.
During a five-game winning streak at home in the series against the Royals, the Lady Eagles have won by now fewer than 17 posting at least 73 points. The average margin of victory is 27 points while the Orange and Blue are racking up 87.4 points per game.
4️⃣ straight ��s for @CNwbasketball pic.twitter.com/Q3dvPY6elc
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) January 9, 2020
Since joining the SAC in 2013-14, the Royals have failed to have a winning season finishing last three times in six completed seasons tallying a league record of 23-105 (36-124 overall) with the highest win total in a year being six in year one. Despite the overall struggles, the 2018-19 campaign saw the Royals finish ninth, their highest-ever poll position.
With 10 losses on the year, Queens has a scoring margin of minus-6.7 but has lost half of its games by single digits dropping a pair of games by at least 20. The Royals enter the game having lost three straight but is one game out of one of the coveted top eight slots on the league ledger.
Coach Sarah Jansen's team is an interesting case because they are a better road team with two wins in six tries compared to a 1-6 mark in the Queen City. Statistics across the board are better with the unit averaging six more points per game while shooting four percentage points higher and turning the ball over two less times.
The Royals are the worst rebounding team in the league average shy of 35 per game getting out-rebounded by over eight per game, the 17th-worst margin in the nation. Other areas needing improvement include three-point percentage where the team is eighth-worst nationally at 23 percent and turnovers where they give the ball away 19 times per outing.
Diving deeper in the three-point statistic, only six teams in America make fewer on average than Queens's three. Exclude an 8-for-19 performance versus Tusculum on Dec. 21 and the Royals have not made more than four in any game shooting 20 percent with 34 made triples.
The biggest area of strength for the unit is on the defensive end of the floor where opponents are shooting 38 percent, the fourth-best margin in the league. In fact foes are making only 25 percent of long range attempts, a mark that ranks ninth in the country.
Individually, Krisitan Eanes ranks fifth in the league in scoring with 16.2 per night while shooting 50 percent from the field. Like her team that is 10th in the SAC in free-throw percentage at 64 percent, she is a 66 percent foul shooter. She has scored in double figures in seven straight games and 12 of 13 overall.
Tune into the broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network starting at 1:45 for "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with audio and video streams available on cneagles.com/live free of charge.
- CN -
