VIDEO: Taylor Goforth Interview
MARS HILL, N.C. – Outscoring Mars Hill 38-15 in the second half, Carson-Newman shot 40 percent for the game and collected a 74-47 victory on the road at Stanford Arena on Wednesday night against the South Atlantic Conference foe.
"I was happy with our defense but not happy with our offense," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "That's somewhat worrisome. That is two of the last three games. We didn't get off to a good start in the first quarter putting up only 12 points. If this was going to be a close game, it was going to be about our offense. Can our offense produce enough to get separation? In the first half, we certainly did not. In the second half it was a little better but it was more about our defense getting stops. Our offense made us grind it out a little more than we wanted to."
The Lady Eagles have defeated the Lions in 12 straight games after Wednesday's affair with all of those victories coming by at least 19 points. It was the sixth time on the year that the club shot 40 percent or worse improving to 4-2 in such contests.
With the win, Carson-Newman (20-5, 17-4) secures a 20-win season for the fifth consecutive campaign extending its longest streak since a span of seven in the 1980s. The victory gives Mincey his 216th win on the bench moving the coach into a tie with Lewis Bivens for the second-most in program history.
The Orange and Blue dominated the glass tallying a 57-34 differential in the rebounding category getting 22 points from the bench. C-N made 18 of 36 shots between the second and third periods of the game.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) led all scorers with 16 points in the game moving past former teammate Kayla Marosites for seventh on the school's scoring list. The guard added four steals and four rebounds.
Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) added her third double-double of the year with 10 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) chipped in 10 points and eight boards.
Taylor Goforth (Friendsville, Tenn.) posted a career-high nine points burying a trio of trifectas with five rebounds and two steals and Makayla Alvey posted a new career high with 10 rebounds.
rebounds and two steals and Makayla Alvey posted a new career high with 10 rebounds.
"I've been getting in the gym and getting up some shots," Goforth said. "Mincey stressed to me one year that I needed to get my three-point shooting percentage up so that has been my focus getting that area strengthened. I am trying to come out with a bunch of energy the way it needs to go from the start."
✅ 20-win season
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) February 17, 2022
✅ 12 straight wins over Mars Hill
✅ Career-high nine points for @taylorgoforth41
✅ @CNwbasketball road win pic.twitter.com/9bXl9NpwAh
After scoring the first points of the game, C-N missed nine straight shots and failed to score over a 4:26 stretch as Mars Hill capitalized scoring 10 unanswered points to hold a lead that would stand up the rest of the quarter. The Lady Eagles trailed 17-12 after 10 minutes matching their lowest scoring output in the opening frame this year.
The Orange and Blue started the second stanza on a 10-2 burst to go on top 22-19 three minutes into the period behind a jumper from Byrd. However the Lady Eagles could not gain separation settling for a four-point, 36-32, edge at halftime.
In the third, the teams swapped points before C-N scored 13 unanswered points capped by a trifecta by Goforth to push the margin to 51-35 with 5:07 to go in the third. However the Lady Eagles went nearly four minutes without scoring taking a 55-41 lead into the fourth.
Carson-Newman only made six of its 20 shots from the floor in the final period but scored the game's last six points and held the Lions to a 25 percent clip from the field to earn the win.
The Lions shot 24 percent in the second half of the game and finished with 34 points on the day. Mars Hill's 18 second-half points were the second-fewest allowed by the Lady Eagles on the year.
Maddie Gillie and De'Ja Marshall each finished with 15 points as no other Lions tallied more than five points in the game. Marshall tacked on eight rebounds and three steals.
The Lady Eagles return to Holt Fieldhouse on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Limestone looking to avenge a December loss to the Saints. Air time on the Eagle Sports Network is 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with video available on cneagles.com/live.
