JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - After 18 days to reflect on the team's third loss of the year, Carson-Newman returns to action opening up the New Year at 5:30 p.m. against South Atlantic Conference foe UVA Wise Wednesday night from Holt Fieldhouse looking to return to form against the Cavaliers.
The Orange and Blue have not dropped back-to-back regular-season games since Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, 2019 with losses to Wingate and at No. 16 Anderson. This year the team has rebounded from its first two losses with 53-point drubbing of USC Aiken and a 15-point toppling of Lenoir-Rhyne.
The two programs have met six times with the Lady Eagles winning each contest against UVA Wise (3-9, 3-7). Five of the outings have been decided by double digits with the exception of February's 92-89 triumph at the Prior Center.
When the teams first met this season nearly a month ago, Carson-Newman (9-3, 7-2) held a narrow 34-32 edge at halftime before Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) stepped on the floor in the second half for the first time after serving a SAC suspension. She did not come off of the floor in the second half scoring 27 of the team's 47 points after halftime to lead the team to an 81-64 victory. The Maryville, Tenn. native went 12-for-14 from the field grabbing eight rebounds.
Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) became the 29th playing in school history and ninth to play under a Mike Mincey coached club to record 1,000 career points scoring 14 off of the bench on six of seven shooting adding six boards. Her milestone points came on a triple with under a minute to play in the first quarter.
After winning three straight games, the Cavaliers have dropped five in a row since beating Newberry 67-54 at home on Dec. 1. Of the five setbacks, three have been by five or fewer points and only C-N's 17-point win was by double figures.
Wise has lost all six of its road games this year after going 6-2 a season ago. The last road win came on Feb. 22, 2021, an 81-68 triumph over Mars Hill. From a statistical perspective the splits are nearly identical in every category for home and road. The only major difference is shooting nine percent lower at the free-throw line, 68 percent.
Defense has been the biggest issue for the team ranking 12th out of the 13 SAC schools in scoring defense, 73 points per game, 264th nationally, and field-goal percentage defense, 42 percent. Four straight teams had made at least 46 percent until Wingate made 32 percent in a 63-61 victory on Sunday.
Nia Vanzant is fourth in the league in scoring posting 17 points per night posting double figures in every outing with four efforts of at least 20. Most of her work comes inside of the arc where 29 of her last 33 made shots have come from. The guard is shooting 50 percent from the field, good for third in the league.
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.
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