JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Winners of seven consecutive South Atlantic Conference contests, Carson-Newman hosts No. 14/18 Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday at 2 p.m. inside of Holt Fieldhouse looking for a third win over a top 25 team this season.
"I think this is the toughest schedule that I've ever had at Carson-Newman," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We have a ranked opponent coming in here on Saturday. In this league anybody can beat anybody. They gave one up in a close one and they'll be hungry to get back on the winning side. From our standpoint, it's nice to have a home stretch of Wednesday and Saturday. They know it's important."
The Lady Eagles' seven league wins in a row is their longest in a regular season since Feb. 1-18, 2021. To find the last string longer than seven, you have to go back to the 2017-18 campaign when the unit rattled off nine straight from Jan. 17 to Feb. 17 en route to a regular-season title.
Carson-Newman (12-6, 7-2) has played one of its most difficult schedules in program history with the overall strength of schedule ranking No. 20 in the country. Saturday is the fifth matchup with a top 25 team, tied for the most by the school in its Division II era. The Orange and Blue are 2-2 in the first four contests of the year boasting a 9-4 mark at home under Mincey overall.
After walloping No. 8/3 North Georgia in December, the Orange and Blue are seeking back-to-back wins over ranked teams for the first time since a span of four straight victories during the 2017-18 season. C-N has lost its next game against a top 25 teams in following each of its last eight triumphs.
Saturday is the 81st meeting between C-N and Lenoir-Rhyne (16-2, 6-2) with the Lady Eagles on top 51-29 overall and 28-10 inside of Holt Fieldhouse. The Lady Eagles have rattled off seven wins in a row, the last six coming by double figures. The Bears last win, 78-75, came at Mossy Creek on Dec. 5, 2018 when C-N was ranked third in the nation.
Coach Graham Smith's team won its first 14 games of the year and were one of the final eight remaining undefeated teams but is 2-2 in the last four efforts falling a game shy of its best start in program history going 15-0 to start the 1979 year. The Bears dropped a one-point game on Wednesday at Newberry being behind by as many as 17 in the third quarter before pulling within one twice in the final 72 seconds.
One of the team's biggest strengths lies in the turnover margin where LR is plus-10, the fourth best margin in the nation forcing 25 giveaways per game and turning it over 14 times. Every foe has turned the ball over at least 16 times with 14 of the 18 posting 20-plus. The team has turned it over 14 times or less on 10 occasions.
As a unit, Lenoir-Rhyne averages over 21 foul shots per game leading the league in makes on average, 16.5, and percentage, 77. There have been a dozen outings of at least 20 attempts but over the last three games the team is 52-for-76, 68 percent.
Despite ranking third in the league in scoring at 73 points per game, Blaikley Crooks, the team's leading scorer, ranks 14th in the conference with 12.9 points per game. The junior has 15 double-digit scoring efforts for the year.
Emily Harman, a second-team All-SAC selection in 2021-22, averaged over 15 points per game during her first two years on campus and is scoring 12.8 for this season. She has been held to single digits in four of the last six and has 13 games with 10-plus points.
Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45 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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