JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Winners of eight consecutive home contests, Carson-Newman hosts Lenoir-Rhyne on Monday at 5:30 p.m. inside of Holt Fieldhouse looking to extend the streak to start the final week of South Atlantic Conference regular-season action.
While the Lady Eagles have lost four in a row on the road, the club is 6-0 at home in SAC play and has won eight of nine with the lone loss coming in the home opener on Nov. 28 to No. 17 Catawba. The Orange and Blue's average margin of victory over that period is 16 points per game and averaging a shade under 80 points per game overall.
Carson-Newman (15-10, 10-5) gets each of its final three games of the year at home with the current streak ranking as the 23rd-longest in the country and fourth-longest in the region behind Catawba (14), Georgia Southwestern (13) and UNC Pembroke (11). Glenville State paces the country with a 32-game stretch, five better than the next closest club, West Texas A&M.
Coach Mike Mincey's team is a half-game behind Tusculum for first place in the Mountain Division standings with Monday's contest being the first time that the team has not been in sole possession of the top spot since both units were 6-2 going into the Jan. 18, prior to the appeal of the first Catawba game. The last game the team played a game not being in first place was on Jan. 11 when it beat the Pioneers in double overtime.
Monday 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 Grahm Smith's team won its first 14 games of the year and were one of the final eight remaining undefeated teams but is 7-5 since its first loss to Catawba on Jan. 4. It fell a game shy of its best start in program history going 15-0 to start the 1979 year. Since losing three in a row, the Bears have won its last three taking down Tusculum on the road and beating Anderson and Lincoln Memorial at home.
One of the team's biggest strengths lies in the turnover margin where LR is plus-nine, the fourth best margin in the nation forcing 23 giveaways per game and turning it over 13.5 times. Every foe has turned the ball over at least 14 times with 17 of the 26 posting 20-plus. The team has turned it over 14 times or less on 15 occasions with single digits in four of the prior seven.
As a unit, Lenoir-Rhyne averages over 19 foul shots per game leading the league in makes on average, 15.4, and percentage, 78. There have been a 14 outings of at least 20 attempts and the team is 27-for-32 over the past two contests making at least 80 percent in five of six.
Blaikley Crooks, the team's leading scorer, ranks ninth in the conference with 14.3 points per game putting up 19 points per game in six February outings. The junior has 22 double-digit scoring efforts for the year including 10 in a row since scoring seven against Coker on Jan. 11. Three of her four 20-point nights have come in the past six.
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 13.8 for this season. She has posted double digits in seven of the last eight including back-to-back games with 22 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. Video is available with your subscription to FloSports.
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