GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Holding a two and a half game lead in the Mountain Division, Carson-Newman looks to complete the regular-season sweep of Tusculum on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. travelling to Pioneer Arena in South Atlantic Conference action.
"It's another tough place to play," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "It's a rivalry game. The game here was nip-and-tuck going two overtimes. It will be tough as always going there to get a win but I'm glad we were able to the win [on Saturday] under our belt to where the kids know that we are good. We didn't shoot it well on Wednesday and on Saturday we were back to ourselves."
With five games left to play for the Lady Eagles, the club is one of three teams in the league with double-digit league victories but has played the fewest games with four contests on tap over the next seven days aiming for a league title, either regular-season or tournament, for a third year in a row.
Carson-Newman (15-8, 10-3) has been pushing the tempo of late outscoring each of its last nine opponents in fast break points averaging 14 points per game (124 total) on the fast break. The last time the team was outscored came on Jan. 3 at Belmont Abbey, one of just three occasions that has occurred this season.
Wednesday is the 81st meeting with Tusculum (18-6, 9-5) with the Lady Eagles holding a 60-20 overall advantage that includes a 25-11 lead in Greeneville. Since the 2013-14 season, the Orange and Blue are 15-4 against the Pioneers having won four straight in the series, two coming in double overtime. The last loss came in the SAC Tournament semifinals in 2020 falling 81-73 on March 7.
When the teams met on Jan. 11, there were 14 ties and 19 lead changes, one of two games this year with double digits in both categories, with the Lady Eagles prevailing 83-81 in double overtime, the third game in series history needing extra time. Neither side led by double figures with C-N's largest edge being four.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored a career best at the time with 39 points and Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) sent the game to overtime by draining two foul shots with 19 second to play. In the first overtime, Blayre Shultz scored an old-fashioned three-point play with 33 seconds left to tie the score before Wykle hit the game-winner in the second overtime.
Tusculum opened the season 13-1 before the calendar flipped to 2023 having not won more than two in a row since the end of 2022 going 5-5 since January started. Two of the losses have come in overtime and all but one have been decided by double digits. The Pioneers have only dropped two in a row once this year and are coming off of a 73-66 setback to Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday.
Coach Meagan Price's team is the best defensive squad in the league allowing 54.3 points per game, ninth-best in the nation, and field-goal percentage defense at 35 percent, good for No. 13 nationally. The team is outrebounding foes by nearly 10 per game, the seventh-best margin nationally and grab 43 rebounds per game, tops in the SAC.
The lone area where the team ranks towards the bottom of the league comes at the free-throw line ranking 12th in the conference with 14 foul shots attempted per game while converting at a 69-percent clip, ninth in the league. The team has taken more than 15 fouls in 10 games this year.
Jami Tham has a nation-leading 23 double-doubles in 24 games this year ranking third nationally with 13.7 rebounds per game, four of which come at the offensive end, and is fourth in the league in scoring posting 17 points per night. The only game where she did not finish with a double-double was at UVA Wise on Feb. 8 being held to eight points.
Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 5:15 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
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