Cardiac Eagles find late pulse to upend No. 21 Indians
January 12, 2022

Cardiac Eagles find late pulse to upend No. 21 Indians

SALISBURY, N.C. – In a second half that featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, Campbell Penland buried a pair of free throws with 0.3 seconds to play in regulation to tie the score as Carson-Newman scored seven of the nine points in overtime to beat No. 21 Catawba 83-78 in overtime Wednesday night at Goodman Gym to move into second in the South Atlantic Conference standings.

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Harli Smith Interview

SALISBURY, N.C. – In a second half that featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, Campbell Penland buried a pair of free throws with 0.3 seconds to play in regulation to tie the score as Carson-Newman scored seven of the nine points in overtime to beat No. 21 Catawba 83-78 in overtime Wednesday night at Goodman Gym to move into second in the South Atlantic Conference standings.

"This is what good teams do," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "From the Anderson game, this is something we can build on. We are fortunate with the call at the end. I think it was a foul but before that I think we had some point blank looks at the rim but we missed those. We had to figure out what we wanted to do at the end with a five- or six-second differential between the shot clock and game clock. We got fortunate that they missed it, got the rebound, drew the foul and Campbell made two of the free throws to put us into overtime."

Four of the last five times that the Lady Eagles have played a nationally-ranked team, the game has gone to overtime with the unit prevailing for the third time in those instances. Carson-Newman (12-3, 10-3) runs its winning streak to three straight road wins over top 25 clubs beating at least one ranked team for the seventh consecutive year.

Mincey improves to 7-3 in road matchups with ranked foes and 16-10 overall as C-N leaves Salisbury with a win for the fifth straight meeting. The Lady Eagles are 3-2 against Catawba (12-2, 9-2) in overtime meetings winning for the 10th straight regular-season clash.

Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) led all scorers in the game with 21 points making eight of 12 attempts from the field adding 10 rebounds for the fifth double-double of her junior year. She was one of four Lady Eagles to score in double figures.

Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) did not miss a shot from the field going 6-for-6 including a pair of trifectas finishing with 15 points and five rebounds in 32 minutes.

"That was big for us," Smith said. "We put it in our minds that we had to stop them on defense and work together, be a team and come together in that moment. We were all talking and really working together. My teammates were encouraging me and they brought me back from this injury and I just wanted to get back out the court to let everyone know that I'm back."

Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) made all six of her free-throw attempts to finish with 14 points, three assists and three rebounds. She brings her career tally to 1,230 points passing Mandy Mendenhall for No. 16 on the school's all-time ledger. Campbell Penland added 15 points going 8-for-9 from the charity stripe adding five boards.

The Orange and Blue made four of nine from three-point range marking the 300th consecutive game the team has made a trifecta. The last time the team did not make a triple was on Nov. 26, 2011 in a 54-48 win over Delta State.

After taking an early edge, C-N allowed Catawba to score six straight falling behind 12-9 with 6:11 to play in the opening quarter. The Lady Eagles closed the opening frame on a 13-4 burst in the final 4:31 to swell the bulge to 22-16 after 10 minutes.

After the Indians pulled within a possession at 28-25 with 5:30 to play before halftime, the Orange and Blue used a burst to take its largest lead of the half at 40-32 with 2:27 to play on foul shots from Taylor. The Indians clawed back within three before Wykle made a pair of free throws to put the visitors ahead 45-40 at the break.

Catawba came out of the locker room on fire making nine of its first 13 shots to open up a five-point lead at 64-59 with 2:17 to play in the third. Wykle scored six of the next seven guiding the Lady Eagles to a 7-0 close to the period and a 66-64 edge going into the final frame.

In the fourth, Carson-Newman went 3:45 without points but the Indians could only build a one-point lead. After the teams traded buckets, Jada Davie banked in a triple from the top of the key with 1:40 to play to put the home team ahead 76-74.

Mincey decided to play out the final 40 seconds as the team forced a missed shot before Penland rebounded the ball, dribbled to the front court and pulled up from 30 feet for the for win getting fouled in the act with three-tenths of a second showing on the clock. The rookie made the first, missed the second, her first-career miss in the final four minutes of a game in 10 attempts, and made the third to push the game to an extra session.

In overtime, the Lady Eagles forced Catawba to miss all five shots from the field outscoring the unit 7-2 in the final stanza. Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.) hit the opening shot of the period 35 seconds in and the score was never tied again with Taylor dropping in a layup with 35 seconds to go to seal the win.

Catawba had won seven straight home games since losing to C-N on Feb. 13, 2021 before falling on Wednesday. Lyrik Thorne led the way with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals as one of the four scorers in double digits.

Taisha Deshazo finished with 13 points and rebounds with Sara McIntosh tallying 13 points. Shemya Stanback fouled out in overtime but finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes.

The Lady Eagles wrap up a three-game road trip on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Lenoir-Rhyne. Broadcast coverage airs on the Eagle Sports Network 15 minutes before tip with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off".

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