JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Looking to tie a bow on a strong month on the hardwood, Carson-Newman returns to Holt Fieldhouse to host King Monday afternoon from Holt Fieldhouse looking for fourth win in a row.
Monday marks an opportunity for the club to push its winning streak to a season-high four games and finish the month of December with a 5-1 record. Through the first five games of the month, the team is averaging 85 points per game shooting 46 percent from the field. In seven November affairs, the Lady Eagles scored 69 points per outing and turned the ball over four times more per contest.
Carson-Newman (7-5) has beaten King (3-9) in each of the first 23 meetings in the series and has scored triple digits in each of the last three meetings at Holt Fieldhouse. In the last eight outings at Holt Fieldhouse, the Lady Eagles have won by double figures. The last time the spread was single digits was Feb. 23, 1989 when the club escaped with an 85-84 win.
The programs are meeting for the first time in three years when they met in back-to-back games, three days apart as C-N won at Holt 111-82 on Nov. 13, 2019 before taking down the Tornado 82-72 on Nov. 16. In the most recent clash, Tori Griffin led the way with 23 points and C-N scored 17 second-chance points.
In his second season on the bench, Michael Phelps, a former player at Henderson State, has seen the team lose nine of the first 12 games of the year but snapped a four-game skid with an 81-76 victory over Mount Olive on Saturday to push the team to 3-2 in Conference Carolinas action and into a tie for fifth.
King's biggest strength is forcing turnovers rating 43rd nationally with 21 forced per game this year behind 10 steals per game. Every opponent has given the ball away at least 15 times and seven have done so at least 20 times with Lees-McRae turning it over 33 times.
At the offensive end of the floor, the Tornado are the 14th-least efficient team in the country shooting 33 percent for the year having only shot above 35 percent three times. It's not much better defensively as the team is 18th-worst in America allowing 44.4 percent shooting and only four teams have shot below 40 percent. Mount Olive is the lone foe to shoot above 40 percent this year and lose.
Ten players are averaging double-digit minutes for the year but only two are averaging double figures in points led by Brianna Dunbar's 12 per game. The junior from Oak Ridge High School was in double digits in six of her first seven games but has nine total points on 1-for-20 shooting in the last two.
Tori Smiley has stepped her game up with back-to-back 20-point scoring outings after four games with 10-plus points in the first nine. The rookie has lived at the foul line going 22-for-26 in the last two after attempting 17 in the first nine.
Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 3:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network. Video is available with your subscription to FloSports.
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