VIDEO: Campbell Penland Interview
DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Draining 64 percent of its three-point attempts and 14 trifectas, ninth-ranked Carson-Newman led wire-to-wire to cruise past Clayton State 84-76 at the UNG Convocation Center Friday afternoon.
"I think it's huge to be able to get off to a good start," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We didn't allow a really good Clayton team to get downhill and forced tough shots. As their head coach I knew it was there but you take what the defense gives you. Tonight the three-ball was there and we certainly scored well."
In the first two games of the year, the Lady Eagles went 6-for-28 from the field, 21 percent, before erupting on Friday going 14-for-22. The 63.6 percent clip was just shy of the single-game record and first time that the club had buried at least 60 percent of three-point attempts since setting the mark of 65.4 percent in a rout of Queens on Feb. 10, 2018, 125 games and 1,747 days prior.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) matched the school record for the third time in her career with seven three-pointers finishing with a game-high 26 points going 7-for-11 from deep with three assists, three rebounds and two steals. It is the sixth time the mark has been equaled with Kandi Duncan doing it first in 1999 and Tatum Burstrom achieving the mark twice.
Carson-Newman (3-0) toppled Clayton State (2-2) for the fourth time in the last five meetings while winning a sixth straight game in a neutral floor setting.
Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) registered the first double-double of her career posting 13 points and a game-high 10 boards with three assists and two pilfers.
"We knew coming into the game we had to get a good shot," Penland said. "The past two games we had started a little slow. We just wanted to come out today and get a good start, stop them on defense, go on a run and shoot it well."
Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) added 14 points going 5-for-7 from the floor with four rebounds and Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.) making all four of her shots with 12 points. She was 1-for-14 for her career from three-point range but buried both of her attempts in the game.
⚡ Sizzling three-point effort
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) November 18, 2022
✅ Season-high point output
�� @B_Wykle draining triples
3️⃣ straight @CNwbasketball wins to begin the year pic.twitter.com/FLSkiDHJE4
Neither side recorded a shot block in the game with the Lady Eagles dominating the glass with a 33-16 advantage on the boards scoring 11 second-chance points.
Mincey's club scored the first 15 points of the game holding the Lakers without points until Jessica Maye cashed in a layup with 3:11 to play in the first as part of a 7-0 scoring burst. The Lady Eagles pushed the differential to 10 at 19-9 after the opening 10 minutes.
Slightly more than three minutes into the second stanza, Clayton State made it a five-point game at 21-16 capping a 16-6 surge after the opening seven minutes of the game. However, the Lady Eagles used a 12-4 burst to push the margin back to double figures before gliding into the locker room on top 42-27.
After making six three-pointers in the first two games of the year, Carson-Newman went 8-for-12 from long range in the opening 20 minutes with five different players draining a shot from beyond the arc.
Out of the locker room, the Lakers trimmed the margin to 11 at 45-34. The Lady Eagles slowly built up the bulge the rest of the frame making 69 percent from the field in the quarter pushing the margin to 70-47 entering the fourth.
All four of C-N's makes from the field in the fourth quarter came from long distance but the team was outscored 29-14 failing to score in the final four minutes seeing the Lakers finish the game on a 14-0 run to turn a 22-point game into an eight-point final.
Clayton State finished the game with a 57 percent tally from the floor with three players finishing in double figures led by a dozen from I'Uana Slaughter. Diamond Swift posted 11 points and Raven Riley recorded 10 points in nine minutes.
The Lady Eagles get a quick turnaround on Saturday at 4 p.m. against No. 18/4 North Georgia. Broadcast coverage airs exclusively on cneagles.com/live starting at 2:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off".
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