Southeast Region Tournament Central Page
GREENWOOD, S.C. – In the opening round of the 2020 NCAA Women's Basketball Championships, the two top South Atlantic Conference teams from this season and the last four years square off as sixth-seeded Carson-Newman takes on third-seeded Anderson Friday at noon from Finis Horne Arena.
"Obviously they are a very good team," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "They won our league and were in the championship game. Both of our games have been high scoring games. They obviously have firepower and can score really well. We have scored well against them. It's only a five-point differential between the two games which they got us both times. They will be hungry getting into the tournament to get back into the winning column just like we are."
Dancing for the 10th time in program history, this is the first time that the school has been to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Carson-Newman (22-8) had been to the dance in back-to-back seasons once doing so in 2009 and 2010. This year is the fourth time in coach Mike Mincey's nine seasons at Mossy Creek that the Lady Eagles are in the field of 64.
The last time the program made an appearance in at least three postseason tournaments in a row came from 1989-93 when it went to five consecutive NAIA District 26 Playoffs winning three contests over that stretch.
In 15 postseason games since joining Division II, Carson-Newman is 6-9 having won the first round contest in 2005, 2010 and 2018. Three of the wins came on route to a region title in 2018 and two came in 2005 when it was members of the South Atlantic Region losing the final to Shaw 67-53.
"Two years ago it was our time," Mincey said. "We had some good luck and good fortune. We have had some rough games in the tournament in terms of just not being able to finish. Other teams have been excited to play us and finished the game well. I don't think it's a mental thing. Our kids were playing hard [on Saturday] but Tusculum made more plays and buckets down the stretch. Hopefully we can turn the tide on that and we won't be put out of the NCAA Tournament and we can try our best to advance."
In accordance with NCAA policies after the outbreak of COVID-19, this weekend's @CNwbasketball regional will feature limited attendance.
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 11, 2020
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A school from the South Atlantic Conference has advanced to the Elite Eight on six occasions with Wingate going in 1995, 1996 and 2008. Mars Hill advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2002 and Tusculum made a trip in 2010. No program has won a game in the Elite Eight in those six outings.
Carson-Newman is looking to snap a five-game losing streak for No. 6 seeds in the Southeast Region. Belmont Abbey was the last team to do it beating Wingate 93-86 in 2014. The only other six seed to win an opening round game was Pfeiffer taking down Anderson 84-78 in 2013. Overall, six seeds are 2-12 having never been to a region title game.
This season is the third time that the program will face a fellow SAC team and the second tournament outing against Anderson (26-5). The Lady Eagles beat Lenoir-Rhyne 79-72 in the opening round on March 12, 2010 in Greenwood, S.C and took down the Trojans on route to the 2018 region title, 70-62, in the first round in a one versus eight matchup.
In that meeting, the Lady Eagles trailed by a point with 2:45 to go in the game before making their final four shot attempts and finishing the game on a 9-0 run to seal a win. All four of C-N's double figures scorers from that game have graduated while 2019-20 first-team All-SAC selections Madison Baggett and Alexy Mollenhauer went for 20 and 12 respectively for the Trojans.
This will be the 25th time the two clubs have met on the hardwood with the Lady Eagles holding a 13-12 edge despite losing both regular-season outings and each of the last four. In the two meetings the teams were tied for 14:14 in games decided by three and two points in double overtime.
It was a tie game at Anderson with 3:55 to go while the McKenzie Gadson drilled a 25-foot buzzer beater to topple C-N at Holt Fieldhouse in February. The Lady Eagles are being outscored 68-40 in the paint in the two affairs.
No six seed has won the region championship in the 11 years of the Southeast Regional. No. 1 seeds have won five titles, second-seeded North Georgia won in 2019, seven seeds have won three titles, with third-seeded Clayton State in 2009 and fourth-seeded Lander in 2012 taking home the other two. Six titles have been won by the Peach Belt, three by Conference Carolinas and two by the SAC.
Anderson is in the playoff field for the sixth straight season and 14th time overall as a program with a 10-13 record in the postseason. The club bowed out to fifth-seeded Lander 64-61 in last year's regional semifinals.
Coach Jonathon Barbaree's team had won six straight games before falling 61-49 to Tusculum in the SAC Finals but lead 41-37 two minutes into the final period only to give up a 19-0 Pioneer scoring run to put the game out of reach. The Trojans scored no more than 16 points in any quarter.
Two-time SAC Player of the Year Alexy Mollenhauer leads the team in almost every category ranking 25th in the country in scoring at nearly 20 per night, ninth in rebounding at over a dozen and seventh in double-doubles with 20. Just shy of 2,000 career points, she ranks fifth among active Division II players placing in the top 10 in six total areas for her career.
Anderson is an elite defensive team ranking seventh in field-goal percentage defense (33.4), seventh in rebounding margin (plus-11), fourth in shot blocks (5.9 per game) and 38th in scoring defense at 58 points per game.
The usual outlets will provide the soundtrack for the contest with radio coverage on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live starting 15 minutes before the opening tap.
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