VIDEO: Braelyn Wykle Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – From start to finish, Carson-Newman (2-0) dominated on both ends of the floor to wallop USC Aiken (1-1) by 40 points Sunday afternoon inside of Holt Fieldhouse to close out the SAC/PBC challenge.
"They actually exceeded my expectations on what they brought to the table today," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. There was a lot of energy defensively, I thought Tori (Rutherford) spearheaded that with her play and it carries over to everybody. Everyone that stepped on the floor brought something positive to the table."
The 40-point walloping of the Pacers is C-N's first win by 40-49 points since defeating Queens by 44 points on Feb. 22, 2020. The Lady Eagles never trailed and won each quarter by at least six points.
C-N starts the year 2-0 for the second straight season and for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.
Defensively, the Lady Eagles had 22 steals its most in a game since recording 20 in a win versus Emory & Henry last December. Ten different players recorded a steal and seven of them recorded at least two. Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) led the team with four steals off the bench.
Carson-Newman's defense forced 27 Aiken turnovers and scored 29 points off those Pacer mistakes in route to the dominating 40-point win. It's the most turnovers the Lady Eagles have forced an opponent in to since Jan 5th, 2022, against UVA Wise, forcing 27 in that win.
It's (Our defense) all about effort," Mincey said. " We have a lot of depth and that helps. I just thought the effort was there. Your not always going to get steals and turnovers off the press, but you are just trying to stimy the offense of team a bit. I just felt their effort was superior today. It's one of the best efforts I have seen in terms of how they wanted to defend and play defense. When that happens, that's when the press will look its best."
C-N's defense locked in from the beginning, keeping USC Aiken off the board for the first four minutes and 38 seconds of the game. The Lady Eagles closed the opening quarter on a 13-6 run and led by ten at the end of the first quarter. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) drilled five of her first eight shots and scored 13 of C-N's 21 points in the opening frame.
The two squads traded buckets to begin the second quarter and then C-N's defense kicked itself in to gear once again. A Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn) three-pointer kicked started a 9-0 Lady Eagles scoring run that spanned nearly four minutes of the second quarter and increased the lead to 34-16.
The Lady Eagles opened the second half getting seven consecutive points from Wykle to increase the lead to 23 just two and a half minutes into the third quarter. USC Aiken made a pair of mini runs to trim the deficit back under 20, but the Lady Eagles stayed relentless on both ends of the floor. As the third quarter wore on, Carson-Newman continued to pile on thanks to stellar offensive play from Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.). The senior post player scored ten straight points for C-N to help close another strong quarter and increase the lead to 29. Taylor's layup with 3:26 left in the quarter gave her 1,000 career points for her playing career.
"That was awesome," Wykle said. "It's great to see her back out here because she worked hard to get back. I think she is going to have a really good year. She really showed out there in the third quarter. She is going to be a huge part of what we do this year."
Keeleigh Rogers (Farragut, Tenn.) scored Carson-Newman's first seven points of the quarter to help push the lead to 32 with 7:27 left. After Rogers' scoring spree, Karli Haworth (Maryville, Tenn.) scored C-N's next six points, including her first career points which came on a layup with 5:59 to go. The Lady Eagles closed the game on a 14-3 scoring run and held the Pacers scoreless in the final three minutes and twenty-six seconds of the game.
Wykle led all scorers with 27 points on 10 for 18 shooting and nailed four of her eight three-point field goals. She now has 57 career games with 20 points or more and has 101 games with double-figure scoring.
"It was definitely good to get yesterday out of the way," Wykle said. My mindset going into this one was, you're playing at home and stats don't lie, surely I was going to have a better day today and that's what happened. When we are making shots, it just makes everything else so much better."
Taylor was C-N's only other double-digit scorer, pitching in 12 points, ten of which came in the 3rd.
Freshman Madelyn Ladd (Harriman, Tenn.) and Karli Haworth (Maryville, Tenn.) each scored their first career points in the 40-point victory. Ladd's first career field goal came with 64 seconds left until halftime. 13 of the 14 Lady Eagles scored in the 87-point effort, ten of which made multiple buckets.
Carson-Newman dominated the glass, outrebounding USC Aiken 50-34 and 16-5 on the offensive glass. Offensively, the Lady Eagles shot 44% from the field and made six three-pointers.
C-N improves to 101-9 under Mincey when scoring 80 points or more and is now 44-1 when allowing 50 points or less.
Kelsie Woodard led the Pacers with 10 points and seven rebounds. USC Aiken was held to 34% shooting from the field but did manage to shoot 40% from beyond the arc.
The Lady Eagles return to the floor on Friday night when they travel to Americus, Georgia for the Georgia Southwestern Classic starting with a matchup with Georgia Southwestern. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with airtime starting at 6:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off". All the games this season can be heard on the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live
