Furious second half rally propels Lady Eagles past Lions 75-72
January 7, 2015

Furious second half rally propels Lady Eagles past Lions 75-72

MARS HILL, N.C. – Trailing 62-45 with 10:30 to play in the game, the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (12-1, 6-1 South Atlantic Conference) outscored the Mars Hill Lions (4-8, 2-5 SAC) 30-10 the remainder of the game to earn a 75-72 win at Stanford Arena Wednesday evening.

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Kailyn Brooks Interview

MARS HILL, N.C. – Trailing 62-45 with 10:30 to play in the game, the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (12-1, 6-1 South Atlantic Conference) outscored the Mars Hill Lions (4-8, 2-5 SAC) 30-10 the remainder of the game to earn a 75-72 win at Stanford Arena Wednesday evening.

"That's two games in a row where it seems like it took us a while to get going," head coach Mike Mincey said. "Their zone gave us issues in terms of not scoring the ball well. That took us out of sync. Camille Glymph tore us up. We were trying to press her with two people and we couldn't keep her from getting the ball in. Hats off to her she is a really great player. At the very end when you need it, we had people step up and put the ball in the basket."

The story of the game for Mars Hill was 35 turnovers, the most forced by a Lady Eagle squad since Bryan College turned it over 36 times on November 21, 2011. Carson-Newman turned those turnovers into 40 points.

With 3:42 to play in the game, Carson-Newman trailed 68-61 but a 12-4 run over the next 2:16 gave Carson-Newman the lead for good at 73-72. Junior guard Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) stole the ball at midcourt and drove to the left block before finishing off of the backboard with her left hand to give the Lady Eagles their first lead since the 7:22 mark of the first half at 23-22. Junior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) made a pair of free throws with 56 seconds to play to give the visiting group a three-point lead.

Mars Hill had one final chance as Katie Stevens missed a deep triple in the waning seconds to seal the Lady Eagles comeback victory.

Carson-Newman trailed 40-37 at the half as freshman forward Allison Hodge (Blaine, Tenn.) drained a three-pointer at the buzzer as part of a 13-point first half.

Mars Hill had the highest field goal percentage of any Eagle opponent in the first half by converting 14 of 22 field goal attempts for a 63.6 clip besting Lander's 57.7 percent (15-26) effort on November 16. The Lions also went 10-for-12 from the free throw line in the opening half.

The home team had the lead despite 16 turnovers that led to 18 of Carson-Newman's 37 first half points. The conference's leading scorer Camille Glymph had 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting to lead the Lions in the opening frame.

Carson-Newman had four players in double figures led by 18 points from Hodge, 12 points from Brooks while junior guard Jai Jai McLaughlin (Knoxville, Tenn.) and senior forward Whitney Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) each had 10 points. Kyle had eight rebounds, four steals and two assists as well.

"We haven't been getting what we want out of our [press]," Brooks said. "We waited until the end of the game and it worked for us. Luckily we had enough time on the clock to press them. We got some steals and capitalized on those."

Mars Hill had three players crest double figures led by Glymph's 25 points, but the guard turned it over 13 times. Genice Lane had her second double-double of the year against Carson-Newman as she finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Lady Eagles return to Holt Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon to host the Queens (N.C.) Royals for a 2 p.m. tip-off in a contest that fans can listen on the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station 106.3 WPFT-FM and watch by visiting cneagles.com/live.

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