WINGATE, N.C. – Playing four of its next five games on the road, Carson-Newman opens a challenging South Atlantic Conference stretch Saturday at 2 p.m. from Cuddy Arena against a Wingate team that has controlled recent history between the two programs.
Of the 12 teams that coach Mike Mincey has played at least 10 times during his nine-year tenure, Wingate (12-6, 6-5) is the only team he has a losing record against going 4-13 dropping 12 of the last 14 and each of the last three. Six of those losses have come by two possessions or less including each of the last two.
Carson-Newman (12-5, 8-3) trails the all-time series in preparation for the 77th meeting by a tally of 44-32. The Lady Eagles are 12-21 at Cuddy Arena all-time and have lost six straight visits to Wingate's campus since a 49-46 win on Feb. 2, 2013.
However, over the last three seasons no team in the conference has been better travelling in SAC affairs. Carson-Newman is 19-5 since the start of 2017-18 in league road games. Anderson has the same amount of wins but is 19-7 during that stretch thanks to an undefeated effort a year ago.
When the two clubs squared off at Holt Fieldhouse on Nov. 30, C-N held the lead for 26:51 and led by as many as a dozen with 43 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Bulldogs surged scoring 24 of the next 33 to take an 86-83 edge with 2:10 to go. Despite a triple from Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) that tied the score, the Lady Eagles failed to get over the hump.
"Wingate came in here and played really well," Mincey said. "It's the most points that they have scored all season. One of the highest shooting percentages they have had all season and that was against us. Going back over there is always a tough place to play. We have to have good prep to try to not let them get a sweep over us for the year."
The Bulldogs produced season highs in field-goal percentage shooting 58 percent and three-pointers making eight of 13 tries from beyond the arc. Six different players finished in double figures.
It spoiled a night where Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) became the 27th C-N player to score 1,000 points in her career. The Lady Eagles missed 10 foul shots including seven in the second half. Mincey's starters shouldered the load with 75 points on 46 percent shooting while the bench went 3-for-13 from the field.
After winning five straight games, Wingate has dropped four of its last seven outings losing by double figures in each game and by 20 twice. It puts the program in unfamiliar territory, two games out of the top four in the league standings. The Bulldogs have finished in the top two in six consecutive years.
Coach Ann Hancock's team is 7-1 at home this season with its lone loss coming on Nov. 23 against Lincoln Memorial. Since that game, the club has won five in a row inside of Cuddy Arena despite averaging fewer points per game and shooting lower percentages across the board at home versus the road.
January has not been kind to the unit's offense posting 57 points per game while shooting below 40 percent overall and just 26 percent from three-point range registering no more than 64 points in any contest and producing margins in the 50s five times. It is turning the ball over 21 times on average doing so at least 22 times in each of the last three outings.
Areas of weakness for the team include free-throw percentage where Wingate ranks 290th out of 304 teams at 61 percent. The Bulldogs are 295th in three-pointers made per game (3.6), 277th in turnovers per game and 218th in scoring offense (62.8).
Conversely, Hancock's bunch are strong defensively with the 12th-most shot blocks (85) nationally while also yielding 36 percent shooting, 39th in Division II, and just shy of 10 steals per game, 54th in America.
While four players are averaging double figures on a nightly basis, Hannah Clark leads the group with 12 points, 16th in the SAC. The all-around star for the team is Teliyah Jeter who is posting 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks per game. Jeter is seventh in the nation with 50 blocks ranking fifth in the league in boards.
Saturday's affair can be enjoyed on two platforms. Radio coverage can be found on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off".
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