Wykle earns back-to-back SAC weekly plaudits
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Braelyn Wykle picked up her second South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week honor in as many weeks the league announced Monday as the sophomore helped No. 12 Carson-Newman maintain its top slot in the table.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Braelyn Wykle picked up her second South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week honor in as many weeks the league announced Monday as the sophomore helped No. 12 Carson-Newman maintain its top slot in the table.
The Lady Eagles have won three of the last four weekly honors as Wykle becomes the first SAC player to repeat as the winner since former C-N All-American Kayla Marosites did so almost a year ago to the day on Feb. 10 and Feb. 17.
The Greeneville, Tenn. native led the Lady Eagles to road wins at UVA Wise and Catawba sitting on the bench for a total of one minute posting 25 points per game, six assists and five rebounds making 53 percent from the field and six of 10 from long distance.
In a 92-89 win at UVA on Wednesday, the all-region selection paced all scorers with 30 points draining seven of eight at the free-throw line. The sophomore chipped in eight assists and six rebounds playing 39 minutes.
On Saturday, the Lady Eagles beat Catawba 68-63 to secure a fifth consecutive win. Wykle notched her five straight 20-point effort finishing with 20 points going 6-for-10 from the field and a toasty 5-for-6 from long range. She added four assists and three rebounds.
She has entered rarefied air with 20-point scoring efforts in six straight games. Since 2002 no player has scored 20-plus points in seven in a row as the sophomore has tied an All-American. Haris Price registered a string of six straight during her senior year from Feb. 2-20, 2019 that included a 44-point night at Lenoir-Rhyne. During this six-game sequence, the all-region pick is averaging 24.5 points (147 total), shooting 49 percent from the floor (50-for-102), 50 percent from long distance (19-for-38) and 88 percent at the free-throw line (28-for-32).
On the season, the reigning SAC Freshman of the Year is scoring 23.6 points per game, one of the top five marks in the country. If that margin holds, Wykle would set the school's single-season scoring average record passing Data Caldwell's 22.5 points set during the 1978-79 campaign, the first year of women's basketball on this campus.
The Lady Eagles are in action Monday afternoon for a 2 p.m. contest at Coker that fans can listen to locally on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online by visiting cneagles.com/live for the pregame show starting at 1:45.
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