Hickory hike sends Carson-Newman to Lenoir-Rhyne
January 14, 2022

Hickory hike sends Carson-Newman to Lenoir-Rhyne

HICKORY, N.C. – With wins in three straight games to open the calendar year, Carson-Newman wraps up a three-game road trip on Saturday at 2 p.m. inside of Shuford Gym against Lenoir-Rhyne in a South Atlantic Conference contest against the Bears.

HICKORY, N.C. – With wins in three straight games to open the calendar year, Carson-Newman wraps up a three-game road trip on Saturday at 2 p.m. inside of Shuford Gym against Lenoir-Rhyne in a South Atlantic Conference contest against the Bears.

"We have been fortunate that we have not missed a beat to this point being able to pick up the Wise game," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "Right now it's about rest and recovery. We need to continue on with how we are going. I like how we are playing. I like how we are gelling together even through the adversity. You hear about teams that are low on players because of Covid or whatever. We are without three bodies right now ourselves. We aren't playing at full strength but I love how these nine have gelled together to have a great start to the second semester."

With comeback wins in back-to-back contests, Carson-Newman (12-3, 10-2) is 3-3 this year when trailing with five minutes to play in games. Prior to this year, the unit had lost six straight since beating No. 19 Catawba on Jan. 4, 2020. In the four years before 2021-22, the Lady Eagles were 2-19 when behind with five minutes on the clock.

Mincey's unit is 4-1 in games decided by five points or fewer largely because of how the team has fared in the second half. While the Lady Eagles have outscored foes by 61 points and an average of four in the first half, they are outpacing opponents by 141 points, an average of nine points, in the final 20 minutes of games.

Saturday is the 80th meeting between Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne (4-7, 3-6) with the Lady Eagles holding a 50-29 lead with wins in six straight and 10 of the last 11. The only setback came on Dec. 5, 2018 when the Bears left Mossy Creek with a 78-75 triumph behind 63 percent second-half shooting to end C-N's program-record 27-game home winning streak.

When the teams met for the first time this year on Dec. 1, the Lady Eagles shot at least 50 percent in three of the four quarters finishing with a 52 percent clip in an 80-65 win. Carson-Newman forced 25 turnovers and converted that into 26 points as Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) led all scorers with 23 points making nine of 18 from the field.

Coach Grahm Smith's team went 23 days between games before getting back on the floor on Wednesday falling 72-70 to UVA Wise at Shuford Gym where the club is 3-4. The Bears have not won consecutive games this year even though three of the four victories have come double digits.

Despite scoring more points per game at home, the club is shooting seven percent worse in Hickory making 38 percent from the field and 24 percent from long range. The biggest difference is turnovers as L-R is giving the ball away 15 times per night at home versus 23 in road affairs.

Lenoir-Rhyne ranks second from the bottom in the league in field-goal percentage defense giving up 42 percent shooting this year with seven teams hitting at least 40 percent as Wise shot 56 percent from the floor in Wednesday's affair. There are only seven teams in the nation that yield a higher three-point percentage that the 37 percent by the Bears but no team has buried double figures.

Almost all of the team's offense is generated inside of the arc and at the free-throw line where the group leads the league by making 76 percent. Outside of making six at Mossy Creek, the team has not made more than five in any game this year

Emily Harman continues to be one of the best scorers in the conference ranking sixth with 16 points per game. She has been in double figures in all but three contests this year including being limited to nine points on 3-for-9 shooting at C-N. Her best night was a 39-point outburst against Anderson in 37 minutes in a 64-57 win over Anderson on Dec. 15. That number is the sixth-most by a Division II player this year and tops by a SAC scorer.

Broadcast coverage airs 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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