GREENVILLE, S.C. – Despite leading for over 25 minutes in the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championships Semifinals, second-seeded Carson-Newman saw third-seeded Tusculum bury a tournament record 15 three-pointers to extinguish a seven-point halftime deficit and win 81-73 Saturday at Timmons Arena.
"We tried quite a bit of things," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We were in the press then backed out of it. It worked in the first half then they turned around and make quite a few threes in the second half, 15 total. We took a gamble on that and they made us pay by hitting those big threes especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter. I am proud of my team. I thought they fought but again against Tusculum we didn't make the big enough plays to get a W and their players did."
The Lady Eagles turned the ball over 10 times in the second half leading to a dozen points while the Pioneers made 50 percent of its shots from the field going 10-for-18 from three-point range to advance to the title game.
Carson-Newman (22-8) had never lost three times in the same season to Tusculum (23-7) seeing a losing streak to the Pioneers reach three for just the second time. The other came in 2011 and 2012.
Kayla Marosites (Elizabethton, Tenn.) led the Lady Eagles with 23 points going 9-for-17 from the field adding seven rebounds. Tori Griffin (Strawberry, Plains, Tenn.) scored 14 points, all in the first half, and Qua Hines (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) added 10 points and five assists.
Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) went 5-for-9 from the field to tally 10 points and seven rebounds.
Mincey's club shot 40 percent from the field and 32 percent in the second half making six three-pointers, its second-lowest of the year. The team made 81 percent at the free-throw line going 21-for-26.
There were five ties and two lead changes in the early moments of the game before Carson-Newman reeled off seven straight points in a three-minute sequence to jump ahead 22-14 with 94 seconds to go in the first. A free-throw and a late second three-pointer from Mya Belton trimmed the margin to four after a period at 22-18.
After the Lady Eagles scored the first four points of the second stanza, they went 3:36 without points watching Tusculum rip off eight unanswered to tie the tally at 26. With the score tied at 28 and four minutes to play in the half, C-N scored 10 unanswered behind three, three-pointers, from Griffin. A triple from Kasey Johnson in the final minute made it a 38-31 game at halftime.
Tusculum drained six of 12 shots from deep in the third period to nearly erase the halftime deficit. C-N went 11-for-13 at the free-throw line to hold a 55-53 advantage entering the fourth frame.
In the fourth, C-N held a 63-61 lead with 6:23 to go in the game before going nearly five minutes without a field goal being outscored 12-3 to fall behind 73-66 with under two minutes to go. Despite a three from Marosites to trim the margin four with 1:45 to go, the Lady Eagles could never pull closer with the Pioneers making six foul shots down the stretch.
After setting the SAC tournament game record with 14 triples in the quarterfinals, Tusculum buried 15 in the game despite going 5-for-25 in the first half. Kasey Johnson led all players with 24 points going six of 12 from deep as one of four players in double figures.
Mia Long finished the night with 11 points, eight boards and seven assists. Maddie Sutton posted 13 points going 7-for-8 at the line and Mya Belton added 14 points and eight rebounds off of the bench.
Carson-Newman turns its sights to the selection show slated to air on NCAA.com Sunday night at 10 p.m. Full coverage can be found on cneagles.com and by following @CNathletics on Twitter.
- CN -
