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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With five of the next seven games at Holt Fieldhouse after a lengthy road swing, Carson-Newman opens its homestand with Newberry on Saturday at 2 p.m. in South Atlantic Conference from the friendly confines at Mossy Creek.
"We struggled with Newberry on the road," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We had to come back in the fourth quarter to pull out a victory. They have won some big games here of late and are on the trend upward. It's a good basketball team coming in. We just need to be able to rest up and prepare for a very big basketball team."
With wins in six straight home games, Carson-Newman (16-4, 13-3) has scored at least 80 points in six of eight home affairs posting an average of 92 over the last four games since a season-low at home of 70 in a two-point win over Anderson on Dec. 5. The team has shot at least 60 percent in a quarter five times in that stretch.
The Lady Eagles have been held under 70 points in back-to-back games after scoring at least 80 in 11 of the first 18 contests of the year. It is the first time since Nov. 22-23, 2019 in losses to Clayton State and 15th-ranked North Georgia that the team has failed to hit that mark. To find the last time the team failed to hit 70 in a string of three in a row, you have to go back to Feb. 13-20, 2016 in three straight losses where the team scored 52, 55 and 65.
When the two teams duel on Saturday, it will be the 52nd clash with Carson-Newman holding a commanding 34-17 lead behind 11 wins in a row, the longest string for either side in the series, and 15 of the last 17. The last time Newberry (6-12, 6-9) beat Mincey's crew came in the SAC Quarterfinals on March 2, 2016, 85-74 in Eleazer Arena. Under Mincey, the squad is 10-1 at Holt Fieldhouse against the Wolves.
In the first affair this year, the Orange and Blue trailed by eight going into the fourth quarter before tallying the first six points of the fourth and outscored Newberry 28-16 over the final 10 minutes to secure a 77-73 comeback victory. C-N forced 14 turnovers in the final 10 minutes and finished with 25 points off of giveaways.
After opening the year 3-12, coach Joanna Tincher's team has rattled off three straight wins over Limestone, UVA Wise and Coker. However the team is 2-7 in road games this year with all seven losses coming by double figures and an average of 24 points. Diving into the numbers, there is almost no difference offensively in road games as the team is scoring 0.2 points fewer than at home.
Turnovers continue to be a major issue for the program leading the conference with 22 per night, a mark that ranks 280th out of 297 teams. The club has had at least 16 turnovers in every contest this year with 15 games of at least 20 and two of 32 or more. Newberry had a string of seven straight contests with 20-plus giveaways halted on Monday turning it over 17 times against Coker.
The Wolves have proved to be good on the glass yanking down 42 boards per night at a plus-four rate. A good chunk of those boards come at the offensive end with 14 per game, the second-most in the SAC but after posting double digits in 13 of the first 14 games in 2021-22, the Wolves have been held to single digits in four straight.
No one is scoring in double figures this year for a team that is 10th in the SAC with 60 points per game but seven players are scoring at least six. Giulia Bongiorno is just below 10 points posting 9.8 per game and has two 20-point outbursts in her last five. In the first matchup this year, she was a part of a trio with Courtney Virgo and Talia Roberts that combined to score 44 points on 17-for-35 shooting with nine trifectas.
Fans can enjoy the broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network starting at 1:45 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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