VIDEO: Braelyn Wykle Interview
WISE, Va. – Extending its winning streak to four, No. 12 Carson-Newman outscored UVA Wise 24-1 in points off of turnovers and connected on half of its field-goal attempts making timely plays to survive a battle for first place in the South Atlantic Conference 92-89 Wednesday at the Prior Center.
"I think we are very fortunate to come away with a win," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "It's a tough place to play. They haven't lost a game here all season. We knew it was going to be a challenge. They had a good crowd here tonight. We played pretty good in the first half. In the third quarter we put them in the double bonus with eight minutes to go. They lived at the free-throw line. I told them at halftime that they are the kind of team that will come out swinging and they did. They were taking it to us. We just held on. It wasn't a very good second half for us from an offensive perspective."
UVA Wise (10-3, 9-3) shot 62 percent in the second half but committed 10 turnovers leading to 10 points as the Lady Eagles matched a season high with 24 points off of giveaways. It snapped a 7-0 home start to the year for the Cavaliers.
Carson-Newman (11-1, 11-1) went 10-for-11 at the charity stripe in the final 10 minutes making 18 of 22 overall in the game scoring 52 points in the paint to improve to 5-0 in the all-time series against the Virginia school.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) paced all scorers with 30 points draining seven of eight at the free-throw line. The sophomore chipped in eight assists and six rebounds playing 39 minutes.
"It was important for us to take care of the ball at the end of the game and making free throws," Wykle said. "We had a really good play. [Taylor Goforth] tipped the ball out to keep the ball alive. Whenever we come together that's when good things happen for us.
"At the beginning of the game we turned the ball over back-to-back-to-back and I had this mindset that I needed to score because Mincey tells us if we shoot then it has a good chance of going in. That's when I decided to be aggressive."
Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) produced a career-high 16 rebounds adding 20 points going 8-for-12 from the floor adding two assists and two steals. It was her sixth double-double of the year.
Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.) added a dozen and Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) tacked on 11 points as the Lady Eagles converted 50 percent of their field-goal attempts.
�� Monster double-double from @19LindseyTaylor
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) February 11, 2021
�� Efficient @CNwbasketball shooting
�� Clutch free throws
4⃣ straight wins pic.twitter.com/yERBeugqNP
It was an ominous start to the game with three straight turnovers to start by the visitors before Wykle dropped in a jumper. Wise responded with six straight and led by eight with three minutes to play in the period. C-N answered with an 8-0 burst to tie the score at 21 before the Cavaliers regained the margin at 26-23 after 10 minutes.
After the Cavaliers went ahead 30-25, the Lady Eagles offense erupted scoring seven straight and 16 of the next 18 to go ahead 41-32 midway through the second period. The margin swelled to a dozen twice including the halftime margin of 49-37 on a free-throw jumper from Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.).
The Lady Eagles outscored the home club 26-11 in the second stanza shooting 61 percent from the field in the period. After starting five of 13 from the floor, C-N went 15-for-23 in the final 13 minutes of the half. UVA Wise started 11-for-23 from the field before missing 20 of its final 22 shot attempts to end the half.
The Cavaliers were highly efficient in the third period making nine of 12 and drilling eight foul shots to close the gap. Despite never leading the home club tied the score at 61 before C-N answered with a 9-2 burst. A runner from Kalee Johnson made it 70-65 going to the final period.
Smith made a short jumper to stretch the lead to seven points at 84-77 with 3:31 to play but it would be the final field goal of the game for Carson-Newman. Over the next 90 seconds, the Cavaliers trimmed the score to two points with 1:16 to go.
The teams traded two-point possessions over the next five total times down the floor with Wykle hitting a pair of foul shots with two seconds to play to make it a 90-86 game. Mackenzie King drilled a three with less than a second to play but Wykle hit two more foul shots to settle in the final score.
Johnson led Wise with 28 points and 12 rebounds going 10-for-14 from the field but got injured going for a rebound on a missed free throw with 8:05 to play in the game and did not play the rest of the way.
Caitlyn Ross tallied her second career triple-double filling up the stats with 24 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes on the court.
Nia Vanzant added 13 points and King scored 11 points and collected five rebounds off of the bench as Wise was held under its season shooting percentage converting on 43 percent from the floor.
The Cavaliers crushed the Lady Eagles on the glass to the tune of a 49-34 margin after being ninth in the league at minus-one entering Wednesday night's game.
The Lady Eagles continue their road swing on Saturday with a visit to Goodman Gym on tap at 2 p.m. against the Catawba College Catawba Indians. Broadcast coverage can be found by tuning in locally to The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online by visiting cneagles.com/live.
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