HICKORY, N.C. – Carson-Newman (15-6, 12-5 SAC) was held to a season-low 58 points and suffered an 11-point loss to Lenoir-Rhyne (9-12, 7-10 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at Shuford Arena.
Carson-Newman scored 25 points in the opening quarter and shot 56 percent from the field. The next three quarters it scored just 33 points and shot 26 percent.
"I think after the first quarter we realized that we weren't playing inside Holt Fieldhouse," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "We were on the road and someone else's place and that scared us and we played bad from that point on. Karli (Haworth) came in there well with eight points off the bench in that first. We are so fundamentally different when we play at home versus when we are on the road."
Dating back to the past two seasons, Carson-Newman has now lost eight of its last nine conference road game in the month of February. The Lady Eagles are now 6-5 away from home this season, with four of those losses coming in the last five road games.
Carson-Newman started well, scoring the game's first seven points. Later in the period, the Lady Eagles used a 9-0 scoring run powered by Karli Haworth's eight points to lead 25-14 after the first quarter. Haworth helped C-N shoot 56 percent from the field in the first.
The second period was a completely different story. Carson-Newman saw LR go on an extended 13-2 run through the period and get to within one. C-N closed the half well. Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) and Emily Gonzalez (Lenoir City, Tenn.) each scored baskets in the final 90 seconds of the first half to give the Lady Eagles a three-point lead after three quarters.
Lenoir-Rhyne took its first lead of the game at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter, but C-N responded well. The Lady Eagles scored the next five points to go back up by four with 5 minutes left in the third. Carson-Newman went cold from the field, not scoring for a five-minute stretch and seeing Lenoir-Rhyne score the next 12 points, going on an extended 12-0 run over five minutes. C-N snapped the scoring drought late in the third quarter but trailed by six after three quarters.
LR pushed its lead all the way out to 12 points in the first four minutes of the quarter. C-N missed seven of its first eight shots from the field in the fourth. The Lady Eagles showed fight and got as close as six with three minutes to play but got no closer than that. C-N shot 4-16 from the field and nailed just two of its 10 three-point attempts.
Not only was Carson-Newman's 58 points a season-low, but its 33 percent shooting was also a season-low as well. LR countered with a 41 percent shooting day and made three of its seven threes.
Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) led Carson-Newman in scoring with 14 points and made 3 three-pointers. Jennifer Sullivan (Knoxville, Tenn.) was C-N's other double-digit scorer with 11.
Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) snagged nine rebounds and moved into eighth place all-time on the program's career rebounds list. She has 821 rebounds in her C-N career.
Four different Bears scored in double-figures led by Blaikley Crooks' 17 points and team-best five assists. Vanessa Jurewicz and Alexandra Merceron scored 16 and 15 points, respectively off the bench.
Carson-Newman returns to action on Wednesday night at home versus Mars Hill. 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.
