VIDEO: Tori Rutherford Interview
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Scoring 13 points, dishing out 11 assists and grabbing 10 rebounds, Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) recorded Carson-Newman's first triple-double in nearly a decade and helped lead the Lady Eagles to their fifth straight win and first road win of the season against Tusculum 96-57, Wednesday evening inside Pioneer Arena.
Rutherford's triple double is the first since Jai Jai McLaughlin had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists against Catawba in the SAC quarterfinals on Mar. 5, 2014.
"She is just another one of our local products that's a great player," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "She's always bought in. Super proud of how she played, she was all over the place. Anytime you have someone so close to a triple double, I felt it was important for her to get that. Proud of Tori."
Rutherford secured the final two assists and two rebounds needed for the elusive triple double in the final four minutes of the contest.
"Shoutout to Mattie Nuckolls for those last two baskets," Rutherford said. "In order to get a triple double, you have to have teammates around you that can make shots and that's what happened tonight. When we needed shots to go down tonight, they knocked them down."
The points, rebounds and assists were all season-highs, while the rebounds and assists were career-highs for the sophomore point guard.
"I had no idea I was even close to it," Rutherford said jokingly. "I always try to at least shoot for five rebounds and five steals. That's just two categories, regardless with how I'm shooting, I know I can always fill up."
The 39-point win is C-N's biggest win over TU since it won 94-55 in Greeneville back on Jan 26, 1999. Just eight games into the season, C-N now has three victories of 30 points or more and six of the seven wins are by double digits.
It's the seventh straight year that Carson-Newman has won at least five games in a row in a season. During this season's five game streak, C-N's average margin of victory is 24 points.
C-N went on a pair of scoring runs in the opening quarter. The Lady Eagles scored seven straight, five from Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) to lead 9-3, two minutes into the first quarter. Tusculum clawed back and took a 13-12 lead with less than four minutes to go, but that's when C-N went on another scoring surge. Mincey's group went on a 11-0 run to end the period and led by seven.
Carson-Newman started the second quarter by scoring the first seven points and began creating separation, leading 30-16, 36 seconds into the period. The Lady Eagles never looked back from there, as TU never got back within single digits. The Pioneers trimmed the deficit to ten points on multiple occasions and eventually trailed 46-35 at intermission. C-N committed 12 of its 17 turnovers in the first half.
"I was not happy at halftime," Mincey said. "I was quite upset with our performance. To score 45 points was great, but I know the talent we have in that locker room and the type of players we have. To see them be careless with the ball and make mistakes on defense. It was little things. We had a spirited talk at half, and I liked how they came out in the second half and responded. That second half was excellent."
Once again, Mincey's group started a quarter off strong. The Lady Eagles scored 18 of the first 25 points to go up 64-40 halfway through the 3rd quarter. TU outscored C-N 10-7 to end the quarter but the Lady Eagles led by 21 points.
Carson-Newman slowly increased the lead and played excellent defense, holding TU to just seven points in the final ten minutes to run away with a 96-57. The Lady Eagles scored 23 points or more in all four quarter.
Rutherford was the highlight of the dominating win, but several others made key impacts. Five different players had season-high performances. Penland scored 17 points, 15 of which came in the opening half. Makayla Alvey scored 14 points on seven of 14 shooting. Rutherford's 13 points was a season-high, Keeleigh Rogers (Farragut, Tenn.) pitched in with ten and Mattie Nuckolls (Chatsworth, Ga.) scored five points in the final five minutes.
"That's we need to be successful," Mincey said. "We know what we have in Braelyn and Lindsey both. A lot of teams aren't able to function if their top two players aren't able to score. So, to see other players step up and have big scoring nights is great. It tells you that we have a number of players that can score well, not just two."
C-N placed five players in double-figures for the first time this season and the first since Jan 25, 2023 against UVA Wise.
While Braelyn Wykle's 21 points weren't a season-high, it was enough to lead Carson-Newman in scoring. 16 of those points came in the second half, as the guard nailed three, three-pointers. The graduate student is now just 42 points away from becoming the school's all-time leading scorer.
It's back-to-back games C-N has scored exactly 96 points and the fifth time its scored 77 or more this year. The offensive outburst can be attributed to making a season-high 11 three-pointers.
The Lady Eagles scored a season-high 30 points off of 26 TU turnovers. C-N managed 16 steals, led by Alvey's four.
The Lady Eagles controlled the glass, outrebounding Tusculum 61-41. It's the first 60+ rebound game since recording 64 against Mars Hill on Dec. 15, 2021. The 61 rebounds were a season-high, as was its 26 offensive rebounds. It's the most offensive boards since recording the same number in a 107-71 win versus King on Nov. 16, 2016.
Five different Lady Eagles recorded at least five rebounds.
Faith Silva led the Pioneers with 13 points on 4 for 12 shooting from the field. TU was held to 31% shooting from the field and 27% from beyond the arc.
The Lady Eagles are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to take on Anderson. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. 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.
