WINGATE, N.C. – Shooting its lowest field-goal percentage of the year, Carson-Newman scored its fewest points of the year as No. 17 Wingate snapped the Lady Eagles six-game winning streak with a 74-58 victory in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday at Cuddy Arena.
"They came out in a zone which we expected them to and we did a good job of scoring early," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "The bench came in and continued to give us a lift. They switched to a man and we never got it figured out from that point forward. We really struggled to shoot the ball. As each missing shot went by, we continued to lose our confidence. We put them at the free-throw line way too much. In the second half, we never could get going."
Carson-Newman (15-4, 12-3) entered the game ranked third in the country in scoring and had failed to score 70 points one time on the year. The Lady Eagles went 7-for-14 from the field in the first quarter before going 11-for-45 the rest of the way shooting 31 percent for the game. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) was limited to a career-low three points.
The Lady Eagles had won back-to-back visits to Wingate (16-1, 14-0) before Saturday as the Bulldogs run their nation's best winning streak to 16 games to open up a three-game lead on C-N in the standings. Mincey's club had won three straight road games against top 25 teams losing for the first time since Nov. 23, 2019 at No. 15 North Georgia.
Skylar Boshears (LaFollette, Tenn.) was the only visitor to score in double figures tallying 11 points, nine of which came at the free-throw line. Otherwise it was Mincey's bench that was the standout scoring 26 points. Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) pulled down a career-high nine rebounds adding six points and Sydney Pearce (Johnson City, Tenn.) also collected nine caroms.
"I like what they do defensively," Mincey said. "When our starters aren't scoring and aren't getting stops defensively I thought the bench came in and gave us a lift. Makayla did a great job and led us in rebounds. She was all over the place. We need more production out of our starting group when we are playing really good competition because we have seen with that group in tight battles that that group hasn't performed together and produced on the offensive end so we had to go to the bench."
Mincey's crew scored the game's first five points of the day but Wingate chiseled into the deficit and was behind by one at 10-9 with 5:03 to go in the first. C-N promptly scored eight unanswered points to jump ahead 18-9 with 2:54 to go in the first frame. However C-N go nearly five minutes without scoring allowing the home crew to score 10 unanswered to fall in a 19-18 hole.
Overall it was a 20-4 outburst by the Bulldogs to blow open a 29-22 advantage with 4:54 to go in the half. After scoring six unanswered C-N gave up the last six points of the half to go into the locker room down 35-28 after going 3-for-20 from the field in the second quarter. It was the sixth time this season the team was behind at the break.
Once again struggling to shoot the ball in the third, C-N relied on 10-for-15 free-throw shooting in the third to stay within seven points at 49-42 going to the final period after falling behind by 11 and pulling with five after a 6-0 burst.
Wingate scored 11 of the first 12 points of the fourth and built up an 18-point lead at 63-45, the largest C-N deficit of the season, with 6:08 to play in the game before settling on a 16-point victory.
Bryana Troutman paved the way for the home team with a game-high 26 points making nine of 18 field-goal attempts and eight of 10 at the line chipping in seven rebounds. Haleigh Brandon finished with 11 points and 18 rebounds and Hannah Clark added 11.
The Lady Eagles continue their road swing travelling to Lincoln Memorial for a rematch of last year's South Atlantic Conference Tournament opening round contest against the Railsplitters. Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cneagles.com/live starting at 5:15 p.m.
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