GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Despite leading by nine points in the fourth quarter and shooting 63 percent in the second half, Tusculum scored 24 points off of turnovers and 18 second-chance points to defeat Carson-Newman 79-74 Wednesday in South Atlantic Conference play at Pioneer Arena.
"When the other team wants to beat another team worse than the other team, that team is going to win," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "I think that their kids certainly did that. There are things that happened against Carson-Newman that don't happen against other teams when you look at the stats. They show up and lock in and our kids haven't figured out yet that that's how it's going to be."
The Lady Eagles see their seven-game road winning streak come to a close losing for the first time on the road in 2020 suffering a series sweep to the Pioneers for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign.
Tusculum (19-6, 14-5), ranked 201st in free-throw shooting, went 17-for-19 at the line in the second half forcing 22 turnovers in the game. Carson-Newman (18-7, 14-5) had won each of its last six road games by at least 16 points.
With C-N on top 6-4 with 5:37 to go in the first period, Tusculum reeled off a 7-0 burst in less than two minutes to take an 11-6 lead. Both teams failed to score in the final two minutes with the Pioneers taking a 16-15 edge into the second stanza.
The second 10 minutes were the antithesis of a shooting clinic for both clubs with C-N shooting 13 percent and Tusculum shooting 17 percent from the field. Neither side scored in double figures with a total of 17 points. The last made field goal for either side came at the 3:25 mark, a triple from Mya Belton. The home side took a 25-23 lead into the locker room.
It was the third time this season that Carson-Newman trailed at the halftime break posting its lowest scoring output in the first half this year. The previous low was 27 at 15th-ranked North Georgia on Nov. 23.
Mincey's side came out swinging to start the second half scoring the first 14 points and 18 of the first 21 making each of its first eight shots to take a 41-28 lead just under three minutes into the period. Tusculum answered with a 10-0 run to pull within three. After a 7-0 C-N run, Tusculum closed the quarter on 10-5 burst to slice the margin to 53-48 entering the fourth.
The Lady Eagles led by as many as nine in the fourth and held an eight-point margin with 8:10 to go only to see Tusculum reel off five unanswered to pull within three. The lead changed hands twice and the score was tied three times in the final four minutes.
After a Maddie Sutton layup put the home crew on top 71-69 with 1:25 to go, Kelci Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) drained a left-wing triple to put the Lady Eagles ahead 72-71 with 48 seconds to go.
Twenty-two seconds later Jaila Arnwine cashed in a three-pointer from the left wing to make it a two-point game with 26 seconds to play. On C-N's ensuing possession, the Lady Eagles dribbled the ball out of bounds without a shot attempt never getting a chance to tie or take the lead again.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored 16 of her game-high 20 points in the third quarter going 6-for-11 from the field and draining all seven of her foul shots. She was one of four double-digit scorers for the Lady Eagles.
Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) racked up 14 points and five boards with Tori Griffin (Strawberry Plains, Tenn.) adding 10 off of the bench. Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) saw a string of five straight double-doubles end with 10 points and nine boards.
Sutton finished the game with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds as one of five double-digit scorers for the Pioneers. Mia Long added a team-high 19 points with six steals and five assists. Aliyah Miller and Kasey Johnson each posted 10 points and Arnwine finished with a dozen.
The Lady Eagles continue their three-game road swing with a visit to the Queen City to take on Queens Saturday at 2 p.m. with 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cneagles.com/live providing the audio broadcasts.
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