GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Winners of seven consecutive road affairs, Carson-Newman looks to take a two-game lead on fourth-place Tusculum with three games to go Wednesday night at 5:30 in a critical South Atlantic Conference contest.
"This is one coming up that we knew was going to be important," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We have given up some big games at home this year that if we hadn't given those up we would be in a little better position."
The seven-game string started with a road overtime win at Catawba on Jan. 4 having not dropped an away contest this decade. Carson-Newman (18-6, 14-4) have won each of the last six by at least 16 points winning by an average of 18 points during the winning streak.
From a national perspective, Mincey's club shares the ninth-longest road winning streak in the country looking to become the 15th team in Division II with double-digit road victories. The team is looking for a third-straight 10-win road record going 31-7 since the start of 2017-18 after posting a 38-39 tally in Mincey's first six seasons.
During the seven-game road winning streak, the Lady Eagles have led for 239:12 of 280 minutes. Defense has provided the team's strong point as foes are shooting 35 percent (130-371) and scoring 61 points per game.
With a win on Wednesday night and a Newberry loss at Wingate, Carson-Newman would seal a top four spot in the league standings and a home game in the conference. The Lady Eagles hold a three-game lead of the fifth-place Wolves with four games to go with the two sides tangling in the season finale.
Carson-Newman had beaten Tusculum (18-6, 13-5) in six straight meetings before losing 71-66 on Jan. 15. The Lady Eagles turned the ball over and did not make a field goal over the last 5:07 of the game seeing a late lead slip through its grasp following a 10-3 run from the Pioneers to close the game.
While neither team shot above 40 percent in the game, coach Devan Carter's team shot 52 percent from the field in the second half going 16-for-31 from the field and 10-for-16 from inside of the arc.
Wednesday's affair is the 75th all-time meeting with Carson-Newman holding a 56-17 lead looking to avoid a series sweep for the first time since 2013. C-N is 23-10 at Pioneer Arena having won six straight since falling 55-51 on Jan. 9, 2013.
Tusculum is 5-3 over its last eight games and is coming off of a 54-51 road loss to Anderson on Saturday. Mia Long tied the score at 51 with 2:27 to go but did not score the rest of the way missing three shots and failing to get a shot on its final possession.
After facing a potent Catawba defense on Saturday, things do not get any easier on Wednesday facing a Tusculum side that is 10th in the country in turnovers forced, 23, and 14th in steals per game, 12. Long leads the charge with 83 pilfers, good for fourth nationally and a 3.46 per game average.
The Pioneers are in the middle of the pack in the league in field-goal percentage at just shy of 40 percent. From the charity stripe, the unit ranks 201st in the country and is 208th in three-point percentage converting on 29 percent from deep.
Sydney Wilson, the team's leading scorer, has not played over the last six games being limited to 18 minutes in a 53-52 loss at Catawba on Jan. 25. The graduate student had scored in double figures 11 times and piled up 17 when the two sides met on Jan. 15.
Long is the team's active leading scorer at 13.8 per night ranking ninth in the SAC and is third in the league in efficiency with a 48 percent shooting margin. She finished the first tussle with 10 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds.
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".
- CN -
