JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (20-7, 17-6 SAC) concludes the 2024-25 regular season when it plays host to the South Atlantic Conference's regular season champions #13 Coker (24-3, 20-3 SAC) for senior day on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. inside Holt Fieldhouse.
The Lady Eagles will honor three seniors on Saturday, Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.), Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) and Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.). Since this trio joined C-N in 2021-22, they have helped the program go 88-35. The three local players have made two NCAA Tournament appearances and two South Atlantic Conference title games, winning the championship in 2022.
The Lady Eagles are tied for second place at 17-6 in the conference but hold the tiebreaker over Wingate based on the head-to-head wins. C-N controls its own destiny to the number two seed in next week's conference tournament. A win pits the Lady Eagles second, a loss complicates scenarios and could have them fall to as low as fourth.
The Lady Eagles will face a ranked opponent for the third time this season, with this being the second straight ranked affair against the Cobras. Since 2008, Carson-Newman is 21-24 against ranked teams and has lost four in a row. C-N's past two wins over ranked teams were in Holt Fieldhouse have come over the past two seasons, defeating #23 Wingate last year and #8 North Georgia in 2022. Mincey's team has defeated a ranked squad each of the past nine seasons.
C-N leads the all-time series 17-4, but two of Coker's wins have come over the last three meetings. Coker's only win at Holt Fieldhouse was the regular season finale of the 2022-23 season. Carson-Newman lost the first meeting between these two teams 71-65 on January 4th. Mincey's team made just 34 percent of its shots and matched a season-low with just two made three-pointers. Coker won and turned the ball over 27 times but went 44 percent from the field.
Two Lady Eagles continue to make their way up the program's all-time charts. Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) has 1,651 career points and is 87 points from passing Leah Jackson's 1,737 third place mark. The graduate student has 862 career rebounds, which is sixth in program history. Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) continues to move her way up the program's scoring and three-point shooting ranks. She ranks third all-time in three-pointers made with 226 in her career. She has made a career-best 63 this season. On Wednesday night, Penland passed Mika Wester for 12th on the all-time scoring list. She is 24 points from Heather Ford's 11th place mark.
Coker is having a historic season. After being picked seventh in the preseason poll, the Cobras are 24-3 heading into the regular season finale. The Cobras won their first SAC regular season title with two games to play after beating LMU last Saturday. They have won 20 league games this season and have been ranked as high as ninth this season. Entering their 12th season as a SAC school, Coker only managed one winning season in conference play through its first 11 years, that coming last season when it was 11-9. Overall, the Cobras had a .326 winning percentage over league play in 11 years and has won 87 percent of their conference affairs this season.
Coach of the year candidate Melissa Devore has her team second in the Southeast region rankings, the highest rated SAC school. They are coming off their first loss of the season, a 64-63 loss at Wingate on Wednesday. WU made a free throw with five seconds left to pull off the upset. All three of Coker's losses are on the road, with two of those coming over its last five games.
Shawnteanna Tillman averages a team-high 17.4 points per contest. Mya Wasswa and Dasia Ferguson also average double-digits in scoring. Wasswa scored a team-high 21 points in the first meeting and had four steals.
Coker is the number one scoring defense in the conference, allowing just 59.3 points per game. Only three opponents have reached 70 points against Coker this season. That is also a key number for C-N, who is 18-0 when scoring 70 points or more in games this season.
Tipoff between the Lady Eagles and Cobras is set for 2:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 1:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A live stream of the contest is available with a subscription to FloSports.
