Clash of SAC Champs opens SAC play
November 16, 2021

Clash of SAC Champs opens SAC play

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – To open South Atlantic Conference play a pair of champions hit the court on Wednesday at Pioneer Arena for a 5:30 p.m. tip off when No. 21 Carson-Newman, the regular season trophy holders, battle Tusculum, the tournament titlists.

Game Notes (PDF)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – To open South Atlantic Conference play a pair of champions hit the court on Wednesday at Pioneer Arena for a 5:30 p.m. tip off when No. 21 Carson-Newman, the regular season trophy holders, battle Tusculum, the tournament titlists.

One of the early signs of growth for the Lady Eagles is the team's depth with no one averaging more than 24 minutes per game and 10 posting double-digit minutes through two outings. The bench has scored 74 points, 43 percent of the team's scoring, a year after the reserves averaged 16, the lowest in coach Mike Mincey's tenure.

"We want to improve as we go through the season," Mincey said. "It was great for it to happen in game two to have the kind of performance that we had from so many people. We shot the ball well, shared it well and our free throws were better. I am very proud of how they bought in to how it looks like we are going to play which is play a lot of people."

Carson-Newman (1-1) is looking to extend a four-game winning streak to start conference play holding an 8-2 record under Mincey in the first SAC contest of the season. Both losses are to Lincoln Memorial coming in 2015 and most recently in 2016 at Holt Fieldhouse, a 102-99 overtime loss.

Over the last four 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 next on the list with a 26-13 mark during that stretch thanks to an undefeated effort in 2018-19. Overall in that span, the Orange and Blue are 40-10 after going 38-39 in the first six seasons under Mincey.

Wednesday is the 78th meeting between C-N and Tusculum (1-1) with the Lady Eagles on top 57-20 after beating then the seventh-ranked Pioneers on the road 69-66 in double overtime in January. Each of the last six meetings have been decided by single digits with the differential being a total of 28 points.

Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) finished the night with a game-high 30 points going 10-for-23 from the floor and 10-for-11 at the charity stripe. She added five boards, two assists and two steals. Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) chipped in a double-double with 19 points hauling in a dozen caroms.

Tusculum, winners of the last two SAC Tournament titles, started the season with a 49-48 loss on the road to the reigning region champions, Belmont Abbey, despite leading by three with 29 seconds to play. The Pioneers bounced back to topple North Greenville in a game that it led wire-to-wire.

Coach Meagan Price has the task of replacing All-American Maddie Sutton and point guard Marta Rodrigues who averaged 38 and 39 minutes respectively. Sutton, one of the nation's leading rebounders a year ago, ripped down a school record 25 boards in the meeting in January.

In the two contests this year, the team has shot 31 percent from the floor in both contests but has not allowed an opponent to top 48 points. Fort Lewis transfer Chloe Warrington is the only player scoring in double figures on the year at 10 per game scoring a dozen in the opener. Western Kentucky transfer Jenna Kallenberg was scoreless in her debut before scoring a team-high 17 points in a seven-point win over the Crusaders.

Over half of the club's field-goal attempts this year have come from long distance shooting 61 times from beyond the arc converting 16 times, a 26 percent clip. Six different players have made a triple and nine have attempted at least one.

In the first two games of the year, the Pioneers were without honorable mention All-SAC pick Brianna Dixon who posted 10.5 points per game a year ago. Dixon registered a career-high 22 points against the Lady Eagles in January and had 16 points in the NCAA Tournament against Belmont Abbey.

Wednesday's game will be broadcast on Mountain Sports 106.3 WPFT-FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 5:15 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network.

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