C-N vs Coker Highlights 3-1-25
DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Six-seeded Carson-Newman (23-8) matches up with another South Atlantic Conference foe as it meets two-seeded #22 Coker (27-5) in the NCAA Southeast regional semifinals Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m.
In now 22 total postseason games since going Division II, Carson-Newman is 10-12 and has won its first-round contest now six times, and now in three of the past four seasons. It's the first time in program history that the Lady Eagles have won their first round NCAA Tournament game in back-to-back seasons. Now, the Lady Eagles aim to return to the regional championship game where they hope to make their fourth appearance.
Carson-Newman opened this year's Southeast regional tournament with a four-point win versus the three-seed Anderson. The win snapped AU's 12-game winning streak, the sixth-longest active winning streak in DII. C-N had four players finish in double-figures in the opening round win, led by Jennifer Sullivan. The junior guard scored 17 points and made five three-pointers. Tori Rutherford (Rutledge, Tenn.) recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
C-N's key number is 70. Mincey's team is 21-0 this season when scoring 70 points or more and has won 24 straight games dating back to last season.
With her next point, Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) will move into the top ten all-time in scoring passing Haris Price. She is 11 points from moving past Kayla Marosites for ninth all-time.
Saturday evening's matchup between Carson-Newman and Coker will be the first ever postseason meeting between the two programs. C-N has won 18 of the 22 meetings in the series. Both teams defended home court in the regular season meetings. Coker won the first matchup by six points in Hartsville on Jan 3, while C-N won the regular season finale by 21 in Holt Fieldhouse.
Carson-Newman will play a ranked team for the fourth time this season, three of which will be against the Cobras. C-N has one win over a ranked team this season and will aim to win multiple games over a ranked foe for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
In its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, Coker won its first ever tournament game by defeating the seven seed and Conference Carolinas champion Belmont Abbey 59-50 yesterday afternoon. Like C-N, Coker entered the Southeast regional tournament off a loss, falling to Anderson in the South Atlantic Conference tournament championship game 64-58.
The Cobras overcame 26 turnovers by holding Belmont Abbey to 28 percent shooting and just 50 points. The SAC's player of the year Shawnteanna Tillman made four three-pointers and scored a team-high 14 points. Kamari Thompson finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. The Cobras made 47 percent of their shots and 50 percent of their three-pointers, their second-best three-point shooting day of the season.
Coker was the number one scoring defense in the conference this season, allowing just 59 points per game. Only four opponents have reached 70 points against Coker this season. C-N was one of them and the Cobras have lost three of those four games they have allowed 70 or more points.
Coverage with the Eagle Sports Network begins at 4:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
