Second half surge leads Lady Eagles to best start in five years
December 6, 2014

Second half surge leads Lady Eagles to best start in five years

SALISBURY, N.C. – It was a tale of two halves as the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (7-0, 4-0 South Atlantic Conference) exploded for a season-high 51 second-half points to go onto a 73-65 victory at Goodman Gym Saturday afternoon. The seven-game winning streak is the longest since the 2009-10 team began the year 16-0.

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Kaitlyn Cupples Interview

SALISBURY, N.C. – It was a tale of two halves as the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (7-0, 4-0 South Atlantic Conference) exploded for a season-high 51 second-half points to go onto a 73-65 victory at Goodman Gym Saturday afternoon. The seven-game winning streak is the longest since the 2009-10 team began the year 16-0.

"It just shows the sign of a good team in my opinion," Mincey said. "In a way we just got pushed around. I thought Catawba outplayed us and beat us to loose balls. In the second half, we came out with a mindset of 'we're only down 11'. We haven't been down that much on the road, let's see what we can do."

The Lady Eagles scored just 22 points in the opening half, the low for any stanza this season as they shot 24 percent on 7-for-29 shooting in the opening frame. Catawba forwards Terri Rogers and Bri Johnson were the big reason for a 33-22 halftime advantage as the duo combined for 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Rogers finished the first half with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"We've been dealing with some sickness this week," head coach Mike Mincey said. "A lot of [the first half] is attributed to me because I didn't want to press because I wasn't sure how they would hold up running around that much. I thought we missed a lot of stuff around the rim and had good looks. I didn't think we played very well or very poised like we should."

Carson-Newman surged out of the locker rooms as junior guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) scored five points in the first 43 seconds of the half to cut the lead to six.

The Lady Eagles were much more efficient in the second half converting 10 of their first 17 field goal attempts to tie the score at 46 with 11:43 to play on a jumper from Burstrom. A 19-4 run that saw Carson-Newman take a 51-46 lead with 10:19 remaining was capped by a mid-range jump shot and a three-pointer from senior guard Lacy Miller (Dandridge, Tenn.).

Catawba trailed the rest of the way, but was able to make one run to close the gap to 63-60 with 1:50 to play, but Mincey's group went 15-for-15 from the foul line in the second half including making eight straight in the final 1:07 to seal the victory.

Four players scored in double figures for Carson-Newman for the first time since February 19, 2014 against Anderson (S.C.) as the Lady Eagles shot 52 percent from the floor in the second half.

Freshman forward Jecca Simerly (Talbott, Tenn.) led the way with 16 points and nine rebounds while sophomore guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) had 14 points, a career-high five rebounds and three assists. Sophomore forward Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) had a season-high 13 points and nine rebounds while Burstrom finished with 11 points.

"I was really pleased with how we all came out in the second half and really put it to them on the offensive boards," Cupples said. "Our goal in the second half was to come out with a lot more energy than the first half so I think offensive boards was a really big part of that."

Rogers had 15 points and 17 rebounds, Johnson finished with 17 points and five boards while two-time first team All-SAC selection had 16 points on 5-for-18 shooting.

Carson-Newman returns to Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday night when the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears make the journey from North Carolina for a 2 p.m. tip.

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