VIDEO: C-N vs Augusta Opening Round Highlights
VIDEO: C-N vs Anderson Semifinal Round Highlights
SALISBURY, N.C. – Two-seeded Carson-Newman (24-9) eyes its second region championship as it matches up with the number five seed Georgia Southwestern (28-3) Monday night at 7 p.m. inside of Goodman Gymnasium.
The Lady Eagles earn their third trip to a regional championship game and the program's first since 2018 when it won its only regional title. They did so by posting its largest margin of victory in a NCAA Tournament game with the 20-point defeat.
A school from the South Atlantic Conference has advanced to the Elite Eight on seven occasions, most recently Catawba who made it all the way to the Final Four.
Carson-Newman will look to become the first two seed to win the Southeast region since 2019. This NCAA Tournament run began with a six-point win over Augusta in the opening round, followed by an impressive 20-point win over SAC foe Anderson.
In now 20 total postseason games since going to Division II, Carson-Newman is 9-11 and has won a first-round contest five times. In the five occasions C-N has won in the opening round it has gone to the regional championship game.
While Carson-Newman has been one of the best offensive teams all season, it's been the defense as of late that has come up big in the NCAA Tournament. It forced the country's eighth best scoring offense to shoot just 30% and score a season-low 54 points. C-N has held its first two NCAA opponents to 55 and 54 points and below 35% shooting.
Scoring 48 points in the first two NCAA Tournament games, Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) is now just six points away from moving into fifth all-time on the DII women's basketball scoring list and 12 points from fourth. Her 105 three-pointers are tied for the SAC's single-season record and her 368 career triples are just eight away from the most in SAC history.
With her first basket on Saturday, Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) became the program's 31st player to reach the 1,000 point plateau. She has made 161 three-pointers and has moved into sixth all-time in program history.
The Lady Eagles will battle Georgia Southwestern for the second time ever and second time this season. The Lady Hurricanes defeated C-N in their season opener back in November 62-58. Both squads shot 33.3% from the field. GSW was +11 on the glass and had a +23 advantage in bench points.
Georgia Southwestern is back in the Southeast Regional Championship game for the second season in a row. The Lady Hurricanes held off the number four seed Lenoir-Rhyne in the quarterfinal round with a 62-59 overtime victory. The next day, GSW crushed the top seed Catawba in a rematch of last season's region final, winning 88-63.
GSW is one of the hottest teams in the country having won 12 straight games, seven of which have come by double-digits and includes won the Peach Belt regular season and tournament championship. In year one, Hana Haden has led GSW to an impressive 28-3 record and coached three players to all-conference seasons.
Averaging 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, Jashanti Simmons was named to the All-PBC first team. Destiny Garrett was named to the second team after scoring nine points per game with three assists. Kayla Langley rounded out the all-conference selections by being picked to the third team after averaging 10 points and six rebounds. Leah Johnson, the backup center to Langley averaged nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks per game earn the Peach Belt's defensive player of the year.
The game will be broadcast on 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online with an audio stream available at cneagles.com/live starting at 6:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network.
