Eleazer Arena awaits C-N and Newberry skirmish
December 10, 2021

Eleazer Arena awaits C-N and Newberry skirmish

NEWBERRY, S.C. – For the first time this season, Carson-Newman will play a true road game on a Saturday travelling to face off against Newberry inside of Eleazer Arena at 2 p.m. looking to run its South Atlantic Conference and road winning streak to four games.

C-N Game Notes (PDF)

NEWBERRY, S.C. – For the first time this season, Carson-Newman will play a true road game on a Saturday travelling to face off against Newberry inside of Eleazer Arena at 2 p.m. looking to run its South Atlantic Conference and road winning streak to four games.

"Newberry has always been an interesting place to shoot," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "I think we have done okay the last couple times we have been over there. Their record is not indicative of how good they are and can certainly be. Newberry is very big and skilled. Any team that we play that has good size can give us issues on the defensive end and certainly on the offensive end as well."

Carson-Newman (7-2, 5-1) has won eight of its last nine road contests dating back to the start of February 2021. The lone blemish in that stretch came at Limestone on Feb. 20, a 72-67 setback against the Saints. Of the last five road losses for the program, all of them have been decided by two possessions or less with four by five and one by three. The last time the Lady Eagles lost by more than five on the road was a nine-point, 72-63, defeat to Anderson on Feb. 13, 2019.

No team in the SAC gets to the free-throw line more than the Orange and Blue with the club ranking 10th in the country in attempts with 201 and seventh in makes with 139. The unit has been to the line at least 25 times in each of the last three games and in five of the nine. To find the last time the Lady Eagles did so in at least three straight contests, go back to a string of four in a row from Nov. 20-Dec. 1, 2019 where the club went 94-for-113, 83 percent.

When the two teams get to work on Saturday, it will be the 51st clash with Carson-Newman holding a commanding 33-17 lead behind 10 wins in a row, the longest string for either side in the series, and 14 of the last 16. The last time Newberry (2-6, 2-4) beat Mincey's crew came in the SAC Quarterfinals on March 2, 2016, 85-74 in Eleazer Arena. The Lady Eagles are 13-11 however in the Palmetto State and while Mincey is 10-1 at home against the Wolves, he is 6-5 playing at Newberry.

All six of the Wolves losses this season have been by double figures with a 36-point triumph over Mars Hill and an eight-point victory against Queens in the pocket, teams that are a combined 2-13. All told, the club is being outscored by seven this year, the third-widest differential in the league.

Coach Joanna Tincher's team is one of the best rebounding units in the nation ranking seventh nationally with 47.4 boards per evening outrebounding teams by an average of six. In seven of the eight games this year, the Wolves have had at least 40 and is coming off of a season-high 68 including 32 offensive and 20 second-chance points on Wednesday.

Newberry's struggles are at the offensive end of the floor where it is the eighth-worst shooting team in the nation with a 31 percent rate from the field. The team has shot 34 percent or worse in all but the Mars Hill game. To pile on, the Wolves are turning the ball over an average of 23 times per game, the 22nd-most nationally with at least 17 in every outing and as many as 35 against Columbus State.

Talia Roberts is the only player scoring in double figures on the year with 10 per game in 18 minutes through the last three games after missing the start of the year. Ten players are posting at least 10 minutes an evening and seven are scoring at least six points per contest.

Payton Cronen has the team's season high with 26 points in 37 minutes against Georgia Southwestern on Nov. 13. It is one of two double-digit affairs for the year by the sophomore but she has scored a total of 31 points in the other seven outings.

Tune into the broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network starting at 1:45 for "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on Mountain Sports 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) with an audio stream available on cneagles.com/live free of charge.

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