JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Returning home for the last time during the 2021 calendar year, Carson-Newman welcomes a Mars Hill club coming off of its first victory of the season on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. to Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference play.
"We aren't overlooking anybody," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "I don't know how many times we have done a scouting report and it's meant nothing. Their shooting percentages are going absolutely nuts. They are going to shoot the ball well, score the ball well and shoot the ball from the three well. It's happened to us time and time again. A lot of that might be on our end where maybe we aren't playing as good of defense as their opponents have.
"I've watched Mars Hill. Mars Hill can beat people. They beat somebody on Saturday. We can't overlook anybody. We aren't playing our best basketball. We have had some adversity hit with injuries. We have to find what we are going to do with the players we have available."
The Lady Eagles are in the midst of a stretch where it has buried five three-pointers or fewer in five straight games going 23-for-86, 27 percent. This is the fourth time in Mincey's 11-year tenure that the club has failed to hit more than five in a game over a four-game period. In the last eight years, there have been a total of 18 occasions where the team failed to hit six in two or three straight affairs. The last time it had a string of four in a row was during the 2012-13 year, where it also had a string of five. You have to go back to his first season on the bench, 2011-12, when it did not make more than five over a six-game period, the longest span in his career, from Nov. 30 to Jan. 4.
The two clubs are facing off for the 74th affair as Carson-Newman (8-2, 6-1) is leading Mars Hill (1-8, 1-6) 55-18 behind 10 straight wins and 17 of the last 18. During the current 10-game winning streak, C-N has scored no fewer than 86 points winning by at least 19 and as many as 63 for an average of 46 per game. Mincey's crew has eclipsed triple digits in four of the last eight.
There has been one blemish in this recent stretch came at Stanford Arena on Feb. 3, 2016, an 83-82 comeback win for the Lions. However, the Lady Eagles have dominated at home winning 31 of the 37 meetings with an 9-1 mark under Mincey. C-N has won nine in a row at home over Mars Hill having not dropped a contest since Jan. 18, 2012, an 87-78 setback. Each victory has come by double figures with the team posting 99, 106, 109 and 118 in the last four winning by 38, 52, 60 and 63.
When the units last met on Feb. 18 at Holt Fieldhouse, the Orange and Blue buried 13 triples in 25 attempts with all 10 players scored and each athlete pulled down at least three caroms. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) paced all scorers with her eight straight 20-point scoring night tallying 27 points on 10 of 19 shooting converting a season-high matching six three-pointers. Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.) netted 22 points adding career highs with six rebounds and four steals.
Mars Hill had lost 15 straight games dating back to last year before taking down Lincoln Memorial 61-59 at home on Saturday. With the score tied at 59 and seven seconds to play, Zanah Boyd converted on a pair of foul shots to lock in the victory.
However the Lions are riding the second-longest road losing streak in the country dropping 26 in a row since winning at Bluefield State on Dec. 2, 2019, a 73-55 triumph. In conference affairs, the streak is 34 games in a row since winning at Queens by one, 80-79, on Feb. 17, 2018. Minnesota-Crookston has the longest drought at 37 in a row.
De'Ja Marshall continues to be one of the best players in the league ranking fifth nationally with six double-doubles. The second-team All-SAC selection has been in double figures in three in a row and eight of the nine contests during the year.
Tune into the broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network starting at 5:15 p.m. for "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with audio and video streams available on cneagles.com/live free of charge.
- CN -
