VIDEO: Lindsey Taylor Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Defeating UVA Wise (7-10, 3-6 SAC) 91-66 on Thursday afternoon, 13th year head coach Mike Mincey became the program's winningest coach, passing Eddie Carter for most wins in program history, helping the Lady Eagles win for a ninth straight time at home this season.
"We've had All-Americans, conference player of the years, you have to have good players and good assistant coaches to achieve this," Mincey said. "You have to have the loyalty and the people that believe in your system. All those great players and coaches that have been here, that's why we get 251. Certainly, am glad to be up there with another great coach like Eddie Carter.
Now, two Mincey's have the most wins in a Carson-Newman program.
"My wife, Shannon, is the all-time winningest coach in volleyball here," Mincey said. "I think she is at 189 in ten seasons and I'm in my 13th year with 251, so I've had more time. It's a husband wife, we've got two coaches in the house and we're both all-time leaders in our respective sports at the collegiate level. That is probably the coolest thing of it all."
The Lady Eagles got 63 combined points from Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.), Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) and Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn) to win a ninth straight home game and stay unbeaten at Holt this season.
"We already know that when you can get Braelyn and Lindsey going on the same day you can get good offensive performances," Mincey said. "Those two I think had 36 of our 52 points in the first half. If we are going to be a contender in this league down the stretch, we have to get big production out of Lindsey and Braelyn.
Taylor's second basket of the game gave her 1,000 points for her Carson-Newman career. She becomes Carson-Newman women's basketball's 30th 1,000-point scorer and the 10th that Mincey has coached. She went on to make 11 of her 12 shots and made all ten of her free throws to tie her season-high with 32 points. It's the fourth time in her career that she has gone for 30 points or more in a game.
"Getting 1,000 points means a lot," Taylor said. "I have such great support from Coach Mincey and Coach Dusty (Nickles) and all my teammates. It's great to be able to achieve that and always have them backing me up."
Just as its done on many occasions this season, Carson-Newman got out to a great start. Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) made her first four shots and scored nine early points to get C-N on an early 12-0 scoring run in the first three minutes. The Lady Eagles went on another scoring run, after Wykle hit her fifth basket of the first quarter and Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) made four straight free throws to increase the lead to 15. C-N led by nine after the first and got 24 of their 29 first quarter points from Taylor and Wykle.
UVA Wise cut the deficit back down to single digits on multiple occasions early in the period but Carson-Newman continued to respond back. Taylor and Rutherford combined for C-N's first 12 points to start the quarter. The Lady Eagles created separation just before halftime. Taylor and Keeleigh Rogers (Farragut, Tenn.) each made layups and then a coast-to-coast bucket for Skylar Boshears (LaFollette, Tenn.) increased the lead back up to 16 at intermission.
That momentum carried over into the fourth quarter. Threes from Rutherford and Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) helped ignite an 8-0 scoring to lead 67-44. A Caitlyn Ross layup sandwiched in between another 8-0 scoring run and the lead was 31 points with 1:21 left in the third quarter. Wise managed to score the final six points and trailed by 25 points entering the 4th quarter.
The Cavaliers cut the deficit to 23 early in the 4th, but the Lady Eagles closed any comeback hopes, scoring seven straight points to push the lead back up to 30 to secure a ninth straight home win.
The Lady Eagles have now won all 11 meetings against UVA Wise, ten of which have been by double-digits.
Rutherford tied her season-high with 13 points and drilled a career-high 3, three-pointers in the win. The sophomore guard also tied for the team lead with Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) each of whom had four steals.
Carson-Newman (11-5, 5-3 SAC) is now 4-0 against South Atlantic Conference foes at home this season and has won all four games by at least 19 points.
Entering the game, UVA Wise averaged eight more rebounds per game than its opponent, but Carson-Newman dominated the glass, holding a 53-36 advantage and were plus 10 on the offensive glass.
Carson-Newman shot its second-best percentage from the free-throw line this season, going 17 for 19, 89.5 percent.
Caitlyn Ross led the Cavaliers with 13 points on just 4 of 13 shooting. She also had a team-high of five assists. Every Cavalier player that played scored at least one point.
Carson-Newman has a short turnaround, getting just one day off before squaring off with Wingate on Saturday. Tipoff from Cuddy Arena is 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.
