VIDEO: Carson-Newman vs Wingate Cinematic Highlights
VIDEO: Carson-Newman vs Mars Hill Highlights March 2024
VIDEO: Carson-Newman vs Mars Hill Full Broadcast Replay March 2024
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (14-4, 11-3 SAC) continues a challenging stretch to end January as it visits Mars Hill (12-6, 9-5 SAC) for a South Atlantic Conference contest at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow night inside Stanford Arena.
Wednesday's contest will be C-N's second of three straight games against teams in the top five of the SAC standings.
Carson-Newman is on its third multi-game winning streak of the season. After losing back-to-back conference games to start the month, the Lady Eagles have collected three straight wins by 20 points or more. C-N is averaging 92 points per game during this three-game winning streak and is shooting 50 percent from the field. Defensively, it has been just as good forcing opponents to shoot below 40 percent in all three wins.
Jennifer Sullivan (Knoxville, Tenn.) was named South Atlantic Conference Player of the week yesterday, her second career weekly honor. For the week, the junior guard averaged 23.5 points, 7.5 assists, three rebounds and two steals. She scored the ball at an extremely efficient rate, making 55 percent of her field goal attempts including a 50 percent mark from three. Sullivan went for a career-high 29 points on 11 for 17 shooting from the field and five of eight from three-point range in the win versus Wise and followed it up with a 17-point 10-assist game for her first career double Saturday against Wingate.
The Lady Eagles rank in the top ten nationally in four different categories. C-N's 20.5 assists per game is number one, while its 1.31 assist to turnover ratio is fifth best. The skillful passing has led to the sixth-best scoring offense getting 83.9 points per game and to shoot 46.2 percent from the field, ranking tenth nationally.
Mars Hill has won back-to-back meetings inside Stanford Arena, but C-N has won 14 of the past 16 meetings in the series. It was the Braelyn Wykle show the last time these two teams took the floor back on March 2nd, 2024. She scored a career-high 45 points and made a single-game record 13 three-pointers in a 34-point rout of the Lions. Wykle managed to break two program records, the single-season record for three-pointers made and single-game record for three-pointers made, all while also resetting her career-high with 45 points, 23 of which came in one quarter.
Mars Hill is one win away from matching its win total from this past season. Picked to finish eighth in the SAC's preseason coaches' poll, the Lions have rattled off four straight wins and are 12-6 overall and 9-5 in league games good for fourth place by half a game. It will be the second season in a row that C-N visits MHU with the Lions on a winning streak.
Emry Tsitourtis' team is 9-1 at Chambers Gymnasium this season and has won their last four at home after losing to Lincoln Memorial at the end of November.
The Lions have the third-best scorer in the conference in sophomore guard Aaliyah El. She averages 17.5 points per game and shoots 48.7 percent from the field. She has eight games with 20 points or more this season, all of which have been in conference play. Tateyoina Harris and Maddie Gillie also average double-figures in scoring. Gillie is the top three-point shooter with 32 threes.
MHU is first in the league in free throw attempts per game at 22.6 and they make the second most per game at just over 15. They also rebound the ball at a high rate, grabbing the second-most offensive rebounds per game in the SAC.
Tipoff between the Lady Eagles and Lions is set for 5:30 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
