Reigning SAC Champions pinned preseason favorites
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the third time in the last four year, Carson-Newman, the reigning South Atlantic Conference regular-season titleholders, was picked to win the regular season trophy getting 10 of the 13 first-place votes in the preseason poll announced by the league on Monday.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the third time in the last four year, Carson-Newman, the reigning South Atlantic Conference regular-season titleholders, was picked to win the regular season trophy getting 10 of the 13 first-place votes in the preseason poll announced by the league on Monday.
"Shooting it well is going to be key," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We have a lot of key players that can shoot it well but even through the preseason and scrimmages we have had offensive droughts where we could go three or four minutes which is uncommon for us of not being able to score. Obviously staying healthy for any team is vital. We have a lot of good players but the key players, if you lose them it's going to change the trajectory of your season. Being picked one, it puts a big target on your back."
The Lady Eagles were pinned at No. 1 prior to the 2018-19 season and leading up to the 2020-21 year. Prior to that season the program had never been the preseason favorite since voting in the polls began in 2006-07 having been tabbed second on four occasions.
Coming off of its sixth overall regular-season crown and its fourth outright title in the history of the program, C-N reached the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships for the fourth year in a row for the first time in the history of the school after its 11th appearance. It was the fifth time in Mincey's 10 seasons at Mossy Creek that the Lady Eagles are in the field. The last time the program had made an appearance in at least four national tournaments in a row came from 1989-93 when it went to five NAIA District 26 Playoffs in a row winning three contests over that stretch. Over the last four years, the Lady Eagles are the only team to finish first or second each season. In that time the school has produced a 111-33 overall record and a 81-21 mark against the league.
Carson-Newman has led the SAC in scoring in each of the last six seasons ranking in the top seven five times as high as third in 2017-18 and never lower than No. 13 in the country. Outscoring teams by an average of 11 points per game, the Lady Eagles converted on 46 percent from the field, the 16th-best tally in the nation ranking 10th in Division II with 17.5 assists per game.
In three straight full seasons, Carson-Newman tallied 11 wins in true road affairs going 40-10 in since the start of 2017 after posting a 38-39 mark in the first six years of Mincey's tenure. Over the last three seasons no team in the conference has been better travelling in SAC affairs. Carson-Newman is 34-8 since the start of 2017-18 in league road games. Anderson is 26-13 during that stretch thanks to an undefeated effort in 2018-19.
The Orange and Blue returns all five starters and 91 percent of the team's scoring (1,375 of 1,511), 90 percent of the rebounding (728 of 811). Nine of the 14 players on the roster are juniors or seniors. Perhaps the only question mark on the roster is finding a three-point shooting stroke. After coming up one triple shy of a SAC single-season record, the team was seventh in the league in three-pointers and two of the five players to hit at least 10 from deep have graduated.
"It's crazy because we went from making 323 threes one year and certainly we struggled in that area last year," Mincey said. "Through recruiting we tried to improve upon that. We need some guys that didn't shoot as well last year to improve. Not only three-point shooting but our free-throw shooting. We have usually been one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the league but I don't think we fared very well especially to start the season. It was interesting every time we went to the free-throw line. Free-throw shooting and three-point shooting are two areas. We scored it well but we weren't able to shoot the three ball well. With the inside presence, you would think we would be able to do that well since we can play inside-out."
Leading a unit with four returning all-conference picks is 2020-21 SAC Player of the Year Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.). The All-American ranked fifth in the country in scoring average as a sophomore and is 63 points away from joining the 1,000-point club. Fellow first-team All-SAC pick Lindsey Taylor provides a potent inside/outside punch. The Maryville, Tenn. native was fifth in the nation in field-goal efficiency scoring 14 points and pulling down nine rebounds per game in her first year at Mossy Creek.
On the perimeter, Mincey has a talented shooting, slashing tandem of Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) and Skylar Boshears (LaFollette, Tenn.). Byrd is a three-time all-league performer, one of the five players in school history to earn that distinction needing 78 points to hit the four-digit scoring tally for her career. Boshears was the team's third-leading scorer as a sophomore with 11 points per game including four nights with 20 or more.
Catawba, UVA Wise and Tusculum each earned a first-place vote after the Indians reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament with the Pioneers, the two-time defending SAC Tournament Champions.
Traditionally talented teams comprised the middle of the pack with Anderson, Lincoln Memorial, Wingate and Limestone sitting in the five through eight slots. At the bottom of the table in order was Newberry, Lenoir-Rhyne, Coker, Queens and Mars Hill.
The season is slated to start on Nov. 13 with a primetime matchup against Final Four club Lander from Hickory, N.C. to open the SAC/Peach Belt Crossover at 6:30 p.m. with air time starting at 6:15 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off". All of the games this season can heard on the Eagle Sports Network with video coverage available for home games on cneagles.com/live.
|
Rank |
School (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
|
1 |
Carson-Newman (10) |
150 |
|
2 |
Catawba (1) |
136 |
|
3 |
UVA Wise (1) |
122 |
|
4 |
Tusculum (1) |
120 |
|
5 |
Anderson |
116 |
|
6 |
Lincoln Memorial |
106 |
|
7 |
Wingate |
100 |
|
8 |
Limestone |
78 |
|
9 |
Newberry |
75 |
|
10 |
Lenoir-Rhyne |
56 |
|
11 |
Coker |
47 |
|
12 |
Queens |
38 |
|
13 |
Mars Hill |
26 |
- CN -
