WINGATE, N.C. – Carson-Newman racked up 17 steals and scored a season-high 36 points off of turnovers earning its largest victory ever at Cuddy Arena beating Wingate 77-55 in South Atlantic Conference action Saturday afternoon.
In 13 wins over the Bulldogs in the Tar Heel State, the Lady Eagles notched their fourth win by double figures and first since 2005 when the club won by 15, 68-53, the prior highest differential. The victory snapped a six-game losing streak at Cuddy Arena dating back to a 49-46 triumph on Feb. 2, 2013.
"We have lost six straight years coming over here," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We have had leads a number of times going into the fourth quarter only to watch Wingate come back and beat us. They are one of the teams that we have struggled against the most in terms of being able to close out games because they are always good and they always come back on us. I made sure that they knew how we haven't done very well in the fourth quarter or in this arena. I was very proud with how they came out. That set the tone for the game. There were times Wingate tried to make runs back at us but we would make a big shot."
Carson-Newman (13-5, 9-3) scored its most points off of turnovers since racking up 37 against Anderson on Jan. 31, 2018. Mincey's unit forced 27 Wingate (12-7, 6-6) giveaways, the second-most turnovers forced by C-N on the year.
Four players scored in double figures for the Lady Eagles who shot 48 percent from the floor and buried 13 triples. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored at least 20 points for the third straight game leading all players with 23 going 10-for-18 from the field.
Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 15 rebounds, five steals, three assists and two blocks.
Carson-Newman used three players off of the bench as that group scored 31 points going 12-for-19 from the field and 7-for-14 from the long range. Kelci Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) and Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) each registered a dozen. Kelci moved past Amanda Jackson and into the school's top 10 for career made three with four in the game to bring her career tally to 96.
"We only went eight deep tonight," Mincey said. "The three guys coming off of the bench are starters or have started for us. We essentially have eight starters that we are playing with. That's lucky for me that we have that. In order to be a good ball club, you can't rely on five guys. The deeper you can go on the bench the better. We have better players still down there too but I decided to go with eight tonight because I was very comfortable with what we were getting."
✅ Largest @CNwbasketball win ever at Wingate
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) January 25, 2020
1⃣5⃣/1⃣5⃣ from @KaylaMarosites
1⃣3⃣ three-pointers pic.twitter.com/nrA1n2HQO8
After both teams traded buckets over the first two minutes, C-N held Wingate without points for 3:29 using a 14-0 to build a 16-2 lead. The Lady Eagles forced a dozen turnovers in the opening period scoring 20 points off of those giveaways to take a 25-11 lead into the second.
Mincey's crew stretched the lead to 19 behind a 9-0 spanning the frames pushing the score to 30-11 with 8:51 to go before halftime. The Bulldogs found a comeback with Destiny Coleman drained a 15-footer with 1:51 to go in the second to trim the deficit to nine at 39-30. Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) made two foul shots in the final five seconds to get the margin to a dozen at 44-32 at the break.
Carson-Newman made its first six shots of the third quarter to push the lead to 21 at 57-36 behind a 13-4 start. The Lady Eagles went icy missing nine straight shots and going without points over a 4:25 stretch. Wingate took advantage scoring nine unanswered points to close the gap to 57-45 with 2:25 remaining in the period.
Kelci Marosites made two straight triples and her sister capped a 9-0 sequence to get the lead back to 21 before Elana Ingram finished the quarter with a jumper to make it a 66-47 game entering the final period.
"The first half was rough for me," Marosites said. "I had three turnovers and I was in tears on the bench but my teammates and all three coaches had my back. [Assistant coach Tatum Burstrom] came up to me and told me to make them pay for turning me over. I knew that I needed to help my team against their zone and I stepped in with confidence."
In the fourth frame, the two clubs combined to make eight of 27 shot attempts scoring a total of 19 points. C-N's defense held the Bulldogs without points for 7:02 of game action capping a second half where the home club shot 31 percent and missed all six of their three-point attempts.
A trio of Bulldogs finished in double figures led by 15 points on six of 10 shooting from Jasmine Stephen. Ingram added 12 points and eight boards and Destiny Coleman finished with 10 points and five boards. Teliyah Jeter posted seven points and 11 boards.
The Lady Eagles continue their road swing Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. in Harrogate, Tenn. against Lincoln Memorial. Air time on the Eagle Sports Network is 5:15 with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on cneagles.com/live and 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville).
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