Dominant first half ignites Lady Eagles over Tornados
January 13, 2016

Dominant first half ignites Lady Eagles over Tornados

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman shot 58 percent from the floor in the first half and used the 18-point halftime advantage to beat Brevard 75-57 Wednesday evening at Holt Fieldhouse in a contest that the Lady Eagles led for all but 50 seconds of action.

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Taylor Peterson Interview

VIDEO: Game Highlights

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman shot 58 percent from the floor in the first half and used the 18-point halftime advantage to beat Brevard 75-57 Wednesday evening at Holt Fieldhouse in a contest that the Lady Eagles led for all but 50 seconds of action.

The victory marks the fourth time this season that Carson-Newman (11-4, 5-4 South Atlantic Conference) has won the next game after a loss by double-figures with the 18-point margin being the lowest difference this year.

"We have typically been pretty good at home and shot the ball well," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We had a big first half, kind of got off a little slow, but once we kind of got heated up and got some stuff inside it was a complete effort there to be up 48-30 at the half."

Carson-Newman made its final five field-goal attempts of the first quarter and finished the frame on a 10-2 run to take a 25-15 advantage after the opening 10 minutes. The Lady Eagles scored 14 points in the paint in the stanza and went 10-for-16 from the floor.

The Tornados cut the deficit to seven points with 4:57 to play in the opening half. Brevard missed its next six shots and Carson-Newman rattled off 10 straight points capped by an old-fashioned three-point play by redshirt-freshman guard Kayla Newman (Alcoa, Tenn.) at the 2:23 mark of the quarter to make it a 43-26 contest. The Lady Eagles took a 48-30 advantage into the locker room.

Brevard's Madison Lenox led all scorers with 12 points in the first 20 minutes while junior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) scored 11 points and redshirt-sophomore guard Katie Stubblefield (Alcoa, Tenn.) chipped in 10.

Brevard went through a four-minute scoring drought in the third quarter and made just 4 of 15 field-goal attempts in the stanza, but Carson-Newman went 6-for-16 from the floor in quarter to go on top 62-41.

Mincey emptied his bench as the Tornados outscored the Lady Eagles 16-13 in the final frame as Carson-Newman matched Brevard's third quarter field-goal efforts by going 4-for-15 from the floor.

The Lady Eagles recorded their largest rebounding margin of the year outrebounding the Tornados 45-28 including 17 offensive boards leading to 13 second-chance points. They also scored 42 points in the paints, the most this season in a contest.

For the second straight home game, five players scored double-digits as Stubblefield led the team with 12 points. Brooks added 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Taylor Peterson (Mount Juliet, Tenn.) and junior forward Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) each had 11 points and seven rebounds in the game. Freshman guard Briana Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) tallied 11 points off of the bench.

"I think it's going to help a lot but I know the one thing that coach is stressing focus because we go a couple games winning like this then lose our focus and losing to teams we shouldn't," Peterson said. "We just have to keep our focus and keep building on these wins and I think we will be all right."

Lenox led all scorers with 20 points but need 23 field-goal attempts to reach that margin making eight shots. Lynsey Crisp and Shelby Wolfe each tacked on 13 points in the game.

Carson-Newman challenges Coker Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the first meeting between the two programs this season. Broadcast coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. on 106.3 WPFT-FM and cneagles.com/live with the Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off on the Eagle Sports Network.

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