VIDEO: Tori Rutherford Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (21-7, 18-6 SAC) played elite defensive to defeat #13 Coker (24-4, 20-4 SAC) on Senior Day, 75-54 Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.
"After Wednesday we were certainly in the valleys," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "The energy was really good today. They played the scout perfectly. When they get in a stance and guard that way, and Lindsey (Taylor) being very active behind screens, that's the performance you get. There has been games where we've guarded decently and not scored the basketball. Today, it was a combination of both and that's the outcome we get."
The win over the 13th rated Cobras is Carson-Newman's third straight win at home over a ranked team and the first this season. It's the tenth straight season that C-N has won a game over a ranked squad.
How elite was C-N's defense? Well, it held the regular season's champions to a season-low 54 points and to their fourth-lowest shooting mark at just 32 percent. During the 40-minute contest, Carson-Newman forced Coker into field goal droughts of four, seven and nine minutes.
Carson-Newman's seniors played a integral part in the win on Senior Day. Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) scored a game-high 25 points on 12 for 14 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.
"I'm not surprised by the performance we got from her today," Mincey said. "She did a good job, was patient and finished well around the rim. It's the kind of thing we are going to miss come next year with her presence inside."
Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) was C-N's second leading scorer with 17 points. She filled the stat sheet with seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
"Coach Mincey really just challenged me," Rutherford said. "I guarded Tillman, a player of the year candidate so I knew I had that role and I knew I needed to defend well for us to win today."
Makayla Alvey (Dandridge, Tenn.) and Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) each notched seven points but did many other things well. Alvey led C-N with nine assists and grabbed six rebounds, while Penland had four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
"These seniors wanted to win their last game in Holt," Mincey said. "It didn't really matter who it was against. Tori played her heart out and to the point where she actually asked to come out of the game because she was so tired. Campbell and Makayla have been cornerstone pieces of our program since they got here. Tonight was no different."
The first four minutes of the game went back and forth and featured six lead changes. Carson-Newman would use a 7-0 scoring over two plus minutes to grab a seven-point lead with 3:43 remaining in the opening quarter. The Cobras answered C-N's run with one of their own. A 9-0 burst over two minutes put Coker back in front with 1:11 left in the 1st. C-N closed the period well, scoring the final seven points including a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Penland to make it 22-17 Lady Eagles after one quarter.
That end to the first quarter carried into the second frame. C-N put together a spectacular defensive performance in the 2nd with Coker not scoring until the 3:20 mark of the period. The Cobras went more than nine minutes without a basket spanning the end of the first into most of the second. During Coker's struggles, C-N scored the first eight points of the quarter and led 30-17. The Lady Eagles outscored Coker 14-5 in the period and led by 14 at halftime, holding the Cobras to just two baskets in the second quarter.
Carson-Newman was steady in the third quarter. Every time Coker scored, C-N responded. Neither side scored four consecutive points or more in the period, and the lead for the Lady Eagles stayed at double-digits heading to the fourth.
Shawnteanna Tillman drilled two three-pointers in the first 60 seconds of the quarter to make it a single-digit game, but C-N would take control from there. A mini 6-0 run with three different players scoring pushed the lead out to 15 with 5:50 remaining. Two Coker free throws were sandwiched between another scoring run, this being a 10-0 run to seal the win. Rutherford scored five of the points, including an and-one to make it a 71-48 with two minutes to play. After the Tillman three-pointers in the first minute, Coker made only one more basket for the rest of the fourth and it didn't come until the 1:43 mark.
Carson-Newman dominated on the boards and scored well inside in the 21-point win. It won the rebounding battle 41-30 and scored 42 paint points compared to Coker's 20.
The Lady Eagles made 51 percent of their shots and buried six triples to shoot 32 percent from long distance. It's the second-best shooting day against the conference's top defense this season and the second-highest shooting performance Coker has allowed this season. C-N also assisted on 22 of its 29 made field goals
Tillman finished with 18 points on five made field goals while Kristynn Knight pitched in 11 points.
No scorigami from this game. This is the second time in program history there has been a 75-54 final score.
With the victory, Carson-Newman earns the number two seed in next week's South Atlantic Conference Basketball Tournament. Two-seeded Carson-Newman matches up with seven-seeded Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:15 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.
