GREENVILLE, S.C. – Looking for its third South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship in program history, second-seeded Carson-Newman challenges fourth-seeded Anderson on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the league's crown at Timmons Arena.
"You have two super quick guards," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "One of the top scoring guards in the country, a freshman player of the league in McDowell. There is length all over the floor outside of two guards but they are so fast they play bigger than they are. It's a real challenge to limit their guard play and limit them inside. They have a good inside-out punch and we feel we have a good inside-out punch. I like how they are playing. They only had that one hiccup at Catawba. Two good teams are playing well at the end of the year. We look forward to the challenge and are glad to be the two last teams standing for this particular year at the SAC Tournament."
With the men's team also in the championship game, Carson-Newman (25-5) is looking to become the fourth school in the history of the SAC to have the both the men and women hold the trophy in the same year. It has happened on four occasions prior with Wingate doing it in 2012. Catawba has achieved the feat twice in 2001 and 2004 while Lenoir-Rhyne swept the title in 2003.
The program is back in the title game for the second time in the last five years holding a 2-4 record through five trips into the final round (1995, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2007 and 2018) hoisting the trophy in 2005 as the two seed and 2018 as the top seed.
Historically, No. 2 seeds are 6-8 in the title game having won the third-most championships behind the No. 1 seed (13) and the No. 3 seed (nine) including Tusculum's crown in 2021. There have been two occasions where the two and four seeds have matched up in the title game coming with each seed winning one. Fourth-seeded Tusculum beat second-seeded Newberry 67-55 in 2011 and second-seeded Presbyterian beat fourth-seeded Carson-Newman 79-54 in 1999.
In the 2018 title game, Mika Wester earned the tournament's Most Valuable Player honor scoring a game-high 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting in the final over 34 minutes of action. The junior added seven rebounds. Haris Price scored 20 of her 24 points in the second half.
Carson-Newman and Anderson (21-9) have won six of the last eight SAC regular-season championships dating back to 2014-15. LMU in 2016-17 and Wingate in 2021-22 are the only other schools to hold in the trophy. Over the last five years the two programs are the best two teams in the league with C-N holding a 136-38 overall record and a 102-24 mark in SAC action versus Anderson's 125-46 and 95-30 tally.
Sunday is the 30th meeting between the two units with C-N winning 17 of the first 29 while holding a series-long four-game winning streak dating back to a 102-100 double overtime loss to the Trojans on Feb. 21, 2020 at Holt Fieldhouse. Three of the four have been decided by one possession.
Despite the success from the clubs, they have never met in the SAC Tournament with the only postseason meeting coming in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament with No. 1 seed C-N holding off eighth-seeded Anderson 70-62 at Holt Fieldhouse. Four Lady Eagles finished in double figures led by 18 from Price.
The Trojans are in their sixth conference title game in their 12th year as a league member. In the first five journeys, Anderson holds a 2-3 record winning crowns in 2013, a 55-52 win over Tusculum, and in 2019, a 62-60 victory over Wingate.
This season is the fifth time that the No. 4 seed has reached the championship round and first time since 2010. The only other four seed to bring home the hardware came in 1992 when Wingate took down sixth-seeded Gardner-Webb 70-69.
In two meetings this year there have been a combined 17 lead changes and nine ties with Trojans leading for 50:49 of the 80 minutes played. Anderson has led by 12 and eight at halftime of both games before the Lady Eagles overcame those deficits to win 70-68 at home on Dec. 4 and 67-64 at Anderson Jan. 8.
Four C-N players have scored in double figures in each game with Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) posting double-doubles in each matchup going 12-for-19 from the floor overall. Anderson has scored a total of 42 second-chance points.
Shameka McNeill, the second-leading scorer in the nation behind Ouachita Baptist's Aspen Thornton, has scored 30 points and 23 points in the two meetings this year. However no one else has posted more than 14 in a game.
Broadcast coverage Sunday afternoon starts at 12:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cneagles.com/live for the audio and video streams.
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