JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the second consecutive season, Carson-Newman (7-2) battles GLIAC foe Saginaw Valley (3-7) in a pre-Christmas non-conference matchup tomorrow afternoon inside of Holt Fieldhouse.
After scoring 20 more points versus Anderson on Saturday, Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) sits just 22 points away from passing Lisa Stogner for most career points in program history. Wykle already set the program record for three-pointers made last season and is up to 285 for her career. The graduate student leads the SAC in scoring averaging 20 points a night. She has scored double-figures in 108 of her 120 games played.
Across all three divisions in NCAA women's basketball, Wykle ranks fourth in active career points with 2,312. No active division two player has more points than the graduate student. She leads all DII active players in points, field goals and three-point field goals.
Carson-Newman is looking to bounce back after suffering its second defeat of the season to Anderson on Saturday. The Lady Eagles responded extremely well in their only other loss this year, bursting out of the gates to lead Columbus State by 16 after the opening frame. C-N led by as many as 26 early in the second half, eventually holding on for a 77-59 road win after that first loss.
"We know what type of team we are and can be," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "What happened in the 3rd quarter against Anderson, I have no idea who they are. We got away from who we are a little bit and we'll try to get back to who we are and be better against Saginaw Valley."
Tomorrow's meeting will be the second all-time after C-N travelled up to Detroit to face the Cardinals last season. Its just the third game the Lady Eagles have ever played against a team from the current Great Lakers Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC), both of which were last season.
Saginaw Valley shot well in last season's 72-55 win versus C-N, going 44% from three and 49% from the field. Compare that to C-N's 37% field goal percentage and 4-18 mark from long range. SVSU used a strong fourth quarter to run away from the Lady Eagles for a 72-55 win on Nov. 23, 2022. The Cardinals defense held Wykle and Penland to 10-29 shooting and just a combined 23 points.
Fifth-year head coach Jenny Pruett has had to replace her top two scorers from last season and its not been easy to do. Junior guard Aleshia Jones is the team's top scorer at 14.4 points per game but is shooting just 38% and 22% from long range. No one else on the team averages more than six points a night for an offense that averages 61 points per game, a mark that ranks 215th nationally. They make up for it on the defensive end, where they force nearly 20 turnovers a night, a conference best.
Saginaw Valley enters this second all-time meeting with C-N on a four-game losing skid. All four losses have come on the road, with the last three being by double-digits. It's been a season of streaks to begin the season. The Cardinals lost three in a row to begin the season and followed that with three straight wins to end November. It suffered a 12-point loss to #1 Ashland during that early stretch.
The Cardinals were picked to finish seventh in the GLIAC preseason poll. The conference features two of the top ten teams in the WBCA poll in #2 Grand Valley State and #10 Ferris State.
Tipoff from Holt Fieldhouse is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 11:45 a.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network. A live stream of the game is available with a subscription to FloSports.
