VIDEO: Emory & Henry Highlights
VIDEO: Emory & Henry Cinematic Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Staying on the road, Carson-Newman (12-5, 6-3 SAC) heads to Emory & Henry (8-9, 3-6 SAC) for a South Atlantic Conference contest Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. inside the King Center.
"When they came here, we played great at Holt," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "We won by a significant margin and that's one game. I think our team understood that with the Wingate games, which were two different games. We have to go up there determined and knowing that if we want to get to where we want to in conference play, you have to play well and win."
The Lady Eagles won the meeting two weeks ago by 40 points. The victory saw C-N tied the program record with 24 steals, the third time that's been done in a game, first since 2009. The defense forced 30 turnovers and scored 36 points off the mistakes in the dominate win. Carson-Newman is set to make its second trip to the King Center. The first venture saw C-N get off to an incredible start and never look back. It led 25-4 after the first quarter and closed the first half on a 15-6 run to lead by 29 at halftime. Mincey's team went on to win 81-45 in the December 17, 2022, matchup. E&H is still looking for its first win against Carson-Newman.
C-N ended a four-game road skid on Saturday by defeating Wingate 70-59.
Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) and Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) are the team's top two scorers at 18 and 15 points per game. Taylor is playing the best basketball of her career, with six straight double-figure games four of which have seen the forward score 20 plus. Wykle, the program's all-time leading scorer, has five straight double-digit performances and three 20 point games in her last four. Of her 128 career games played, she has scored 20 points or more in half of those games.
Passing the ball effectively has been a strength of C-N's. It averages the seventh-most assists per game at 17.7 and has eight games with 20 or more assists, including four in their last six games. The Lady Eagles' assist to turnover ratio is 1.10, 20th best nationally. Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) and Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) have 53 and 46 total assists this season, ranking in the top 15 in the conference. Both are passing without committing turnovers, ranking 1 and 2 in the league with assist to turnover ratios above 2. Rutherford has led C-N in assists on five different occasions and has seven games with three or more dimes. Alvey has nine games with at least four assists and is averaging nearly four per game over her last ten games.
Their pristine passing has led to the Lady Eagles averaging the second-most points in the league at 77 per game, 13th best nationally. In league games, C-N is shooting the ball more efficiently and is scoring almost 82 points per game.
The Lady Eagles have been getting things done on the defensive end. Mincey's unit has forced opponents to shoot below 38% in eight straight games. Only two opponents have managed to shoot 40% or better on C-N this season. To no surprise, Carson-Newman is first in the league in field goal percentage defense at 35.6%, a mark that is 30th in the country.
Since meeting Carson-Newman two days ago, E&H has gone 1-1 with a 89-75 road win over Tusculum and a 64-82 loss to Anderson last week.
In the matchup earlier this season, the Wasps scored a season-low 48 points and made a season low 2 three-pointers. The offensive were in part to their second-most turnovers in a game at 30, in which C-N scored 36 points off of those mistakes. The Wasps are still looking for their first win over the Lady Eagles. Three of the four matchups have gone in C-N's favor by double digits. E&H is -42 in the first quarters in the four meetings.
E&H is 4-2 at the King Center this season, with both losses coming by four points each. It is scoring 13 more points per game at home than it does on the road. Defensively, they average four more steals per game at home as well.
Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 7:15 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.
