WINGATE, N.C.- Carson-Newman (15-10, 10-5) battled back from an early deficit, but fell short on the road against No. 23 Wingate (19-6, 12-4), losing 72-66 inside Cuddy Arena Saturday afternoon.
"We knew this one was going to have that feel, kind of like a SAC championship game, NCAA tournament environment," head coach Mike Mincey said. "They came out and hit us with a bunch of blows, they hit four 3s and had us down 24-10 after the first quarter. I liked the response of our team in the second and then the second half. We didn't make enough plays to win the game, but we got a lot of mileage out of kids that necessarily haven't played a ton like Ruth (Mbugua). I'm super proud of how she played against two really good post players. She continues to get better and better."
The loss is Carson-Newman's fourth loss in its last five games, all of which have come on the road.
Wingate got off to a quick start, scoring the games first nine points forcing a C-N timeout at the 6:34 mark. Ruthie Mbugua got C-N on the board out of the timeout with a right-hand layup to make it 9-2. The Bulldogs increased the lead to double digits at the 4:39 mark on an Emily Hege three-pointer.
C-N settled in offensively with back-to-back layups from Harli Smith and Mbugua to bring the deficit down to seven. Wingate ended the final three minutes of the first quarter outscoring 10-3 to lead by 14 after ten minutes.
C-N's defense came up big in the final five minutes of the opening half. The Lady Eagles held Wingate scoreless, ending the first half on a 9-0 scoring run to trail by just four points at halftime. The Bulldogs scored just six points in the second quarter to C-N's 16.
The second half scoring belonged to Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) who scored 23 of her career-high 24 points in final 20 minutes. 15 of those came in a 23-point third quarter for the Eagles in which help tie the contest after three quarters.
The Lady Eagles took their biggest lead of the day (3) on Braelyn Wykle's (Greeneville, Tenn.) only three-pointer of the day to open the fourth quarter. The two teams traded baskets until the final 3:34. The Lady Eagles got within one at the 1:15 mark on a layup from Penland. However, that was C-N's last field goal as the Bulldogs knocked down their free throws en route to their eighth straight victory. Wingate outscored C-N 12-6 in the final three minutes of the contest.
Penland led C-N in points (24), rebounds (9) and assists (3). Mbugua was the only other Lady Eagle in double figures, scoring 10 points in 28 minutes off the bench. Six other Eagles scored at least four points or more.
Bryanna Troutman and Emily Hege each led Wingate with 19 points on seven made field goals. Hannah Clark also scored in double figures, with 11 points.
The Lady Eagles return home on Monday at 5:30 p.m. taking on Lenoir-Rhyne. 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.
