MARS HILL, N.C. – With five of the next seven games on the road, Carson-Newman looks to rebound from a double overtime loss against 20th-ranked Anderson Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. from Stanford Arena against Mars Hill.
"From the head man on down, you go from what happened on Saturday to potentially being in first place and controlling your own destiny to try to win a league title to back to fourth," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "I was really pleased with how the girls practiced yesterday. They were physical and there are things that we are working on for the stretch run defensively and offensively. The mindset was good and I think if we come with that mindset we should be fine."
Carson-Newman (14-6, 10-4) has won each of its last five road games, the fourth-longest road winning streak since the 2009-10 season. The longest string is a nine-game stretch during the 2009-10 season and two seven-game streaks in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The two clubs are facing off for the 70th affair as C-N is leading Mars Hill (2-18, 0-14) 52-18 behind seven straight wins and 14 of the last 15. During the current seven-game winning streak, C-N has scored no fewer than 86 points winning by at least 27 and as many as 63 for an average of 48 per game. Mincey's crew has eclipsed triple digits in four of the last five.
The lone blemish in this recent stretch came at Stanford Arena on Feb. 3, 2016, an 83-82 comeback win for the Lions. Mincey's crew is 6-2 in his tenure on the road in the series and the program is 21-12 overall in the mountains. During a three-game winning streak at Stanford Arena, the Lady Eagles have won by 33, 58 and 38.
When the teams met on Dec. 18 at Holt Fieldhouse, Mincey passed Eddie Carter for the program's all-time leader in SAC victories notching his 108th. Carson-Newman scored 45 points on the fast break and 26 points off of 30 Mars Hill turnovers. The Lady Eagles shot 51 percent in the game making at least half of their shots in each of the first three frames. As a club, it made 15 triples shooting 44 percent from long range.
Five players scored in double figures for the Lady Eagles led by 16 points from Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.). The senior added 10 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season with five assists and four steals. Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) posted a career-highs in points and assists with 14 and six respectively going 5-for-7 from the field in the game in 15 minutes of action.
Mars Hill has dropped 12 straight games since beating Bluefield State on the road 73-55 on Dec. 2. It is the fifth-longest losing streak in the country. Only three teams in America have a worse scoring margin than the minus-22 for the Lions this season.
Despite the overall struggles, the unit has dropped its last two games by a combined seven points losing by five to UVa-Wise and by a pair at home to Coker on Saturday. The Lions led the Cobras by six with 3:33 to go before giving up eight straight to end the game missing the final five shots and two free throws.
Mars Hill has lost 36 consecutive SAC contests, by far the longest string in the nation, 19 games longer than New Mexico Highlands' 17-game mark in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Of all NCAA sanctioned women's basketball teams, there are four Division III teams with longer active streaks led by the 203-game drought from Bryn Mawr.
Its last conference win came on Feb. 17, 2018 at Queens, 80-79. Over the last three-plus years, the program is 8-82 against the conference including a 1-51 stretch over the last 53 outings.
The Lions have dropped 20 straight home games, 11 games more than three teams that have lost nine in a row. Their only victory in the last three seasons at home came on Nov. 14, 2018 against Warren Wilson as the unit is 1-33 inside of Stanford Arena since the beginning of the 2017-18 year.
Coach Briana Clark's team ranks last in the league in 16 statistical categories being the lowest scoring team in the league at 58 points per game and last in scoring defense giving up 79 points per game. The team is shooting 35 percent from the field and giving up 43 percent shooting.
De'Ja Marshall leads the team in scoring posting 15 points per game ranking sixth in the league. She played 20 minutes against the Lady Eagles this year missing all three shots that she took from the field settling for three points.
Wednesday'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 5:15 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off".
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