GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Two of the remaining 24 undefeated teams in Division II collide Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. for first place in the South Atlantic Conference when No. 20 Carson-Newman travels to No. 7 Tusculum.
"We only play once this year," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "They don't make the return trip to Jefferson City this year. I think both teams understand the scale of what this game will mean for each team. It's two really good teams going at each other. Two ranked teams going at each other. I'm sure they are going to want to beat us as bad as we want to beat them. It should be a good battle between two good teams."
The Lady Eagles have dropped two in a row against top 10 teams since toppling sixth-ranked Columbus State on Nov. 21, 2015, a span of 155 games and 1,890 days. It was a 70-68 triumph over the Cougars at Holt Fieldhouse. Overall, since rankings have been documented in 2008, the program is 3-4 recording its last road win over a top 10 team on Dec. 8, 2008, a 65-52 victory over No. 8 Clayton State.
Wednesday will be the 25th time that Mincey has coached against a ranked team with the Lady Eagles posting a 14-10 record. Five of those wins have come on the road with C-N posting a pair last year, a one-point overtime decision at No. 19 Catawba on Jan. 4 and an eight-point victory at No. 21 Lander on Nov. 9.
The two teams tout the longest SAC regular-season winning streaks with Tusculum (9-0, 9-0) winning nine straight and the Lady Eagles holding eight in a row. Behind a SAC Tournament title in 2020, the Pioneers have rattled off 12 wins in a row, the fifth-longest mark in the country.
Wednesday night marks the 77th meeting between the two Tennessee programs with Carson-Newman (5-0, 5-0) leading 56-20 but Tusculum won all three meetings last year and will be seeking its first four-game winning streak over the Lady Eagles in series history. This is the first time Tusculum is ranked in a meeting since winning 94-91 in Greeneville on Feb. 14, 2009. A month earlier, C-N upended a fifth-ranked Pioneer unit 90-87.
Two of the contests were decided by five each with the Pioneers winning in the SAC semifinals by eight. Turnovers played a key part as C-N committed 61 total giveaways, at least 17 in each contest, leading to 53 Pioneer points, an average of 18 per game.
Across the three meetings, the lead changed hands 28 times and the score was tied 24 times. C-N limited the Pioneers to below 40 percent twice but allowed an average 11 points off of second-chance points.
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— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) January 20, 2021
The Pioneers were predicted to finish seventh in the league this season with coach Devan Carter departing for Lincoln Memorial combined with SAC Tournament MVP and all-region pick Mia Long and honorable mention All-SAC pick Kasey Johnson graduating. The duo combined for nearly 26 points per game.
Tusculum boasts the longest home winning streak in the conference with 10 straight, the 16th-longest mark in the nation. Over the last three-plus seasons, the program is 38-9 at home. Newberry was the last team to leave Greeneville with a win, a 73-60 decision on Feb. 1, 2020.
Defense has been the calling card for the unit this season yielding 52 points per game and a 31-percent field-goal percentage, good for seventh and sixth nationally. Foes have failed to clear 55 points seven times with three teams notching 46 or fewer. No team has shot above 40 percent in a game with UVA, the highest scoring team in the league at 84 per night, posting 68 points and 39 percent shooting in an 11-point loss on Nov. 24.
Three players are scoring in double figures led by Jalia Arnwine's 15, who has been in double digits in eight of nine games this year. The senior has been significantly better at home points 19 points and a 42 accuracy rate from long range versus 11 points and 27 percent on the road.
Maddie Sutton leads the country with seven double-doubles, including three straight, pulling down 14.6 rebounds per night, good for fourth nationally. She has at least 11 boards in every game this year and seven outings with at least five offensive caroms.
Replacing Long at the point guard, Marta Rodrigues has been ultra consistent after posting two points and a board per game last year, she is tallying seven points, seven assists and five rebounds per night.
The Eagle Sports Network has the broadcast of the contest locally on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with an audio stream available for free on cneagles.com/live starting 15 minutes before tip-off with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off.
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