Second-half surge pushes Lady Eagles past UVA Wise, 73-58
March 5, 2026

Second-half surge pushes Lady Eagles past UVA Wise, 73-58

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman’s (20-9) defense held UVA Wise (16-13) to just 24 percent shooting over the final three quarters to score a 73-58 victory in the quarterfinal round of the South Atlantic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship Wednesday afternoon at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center.

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Mattie Nuckolls Interview

VIDEO: Delaney Weddington Interview

VIDEO: Final moments

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman's (20-9) defense held UVA Wise (16-13) to just 24 percent shooting over the final three quarters to score a 73-58 victory in the quarterfinal round of the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship Wednesday afternoon at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center.

"It's a team sport and it's a team defensive unit that you put out there," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "We started Delaney (Weddington) in the third quarter and  felt like she would use her basketball IQ to help us. The five that we put out there early in the second half held them to one point for a long time and then because you can get stops, you are able to get scores and your energy gets up and we just ran away with it from there."

The win secures C-N its eighth 20-win season over the last decade and the third straight. It is also C-N's third straight appearance in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.

Carson-Newman's defense held UVA Wise to just 24 percent shooting for the final 30 minutes of play. For the game, the Highland Cavaliers were just 29.9 percent. It's the third time this season that C-N has forced an opponent to shoot 30 percent or worse.

The Lady Eagles were balanced offensively to score 73 points on 45 percent shooting. Mattie Nuckolls (Chatsworth, Ga.) made six of her 11 shots for a game-high 17 points.

Jennifer Sullivan (Knoxville, Tenn.) followed suit with 16 points on six of 13 shooting and a pair of triples. Her first point in the game was her 1,000th point of her collegiate career.

Caroline Hill (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Delaney Weddington (Morristown, Tenn.) each had efficient 12-point day. Hill made all three of her triples while Weddington went five of ten to match her career-high. Weddington grabbed seven rebounds and played the entire second half.

Carson-Newman's offense fared well early, burying three of their first four three-pointers to jump out to a 14-8 lead with 4:24 left in the first. The next seven minutes of basketball belonged to Wise. They went on a 16-1 scoring run to lead by five points after one, and then by nine early in the second frame. The Lady Eagles defense allowed Wise to shoot 41 percent in the first quarter.

Jennifer Sullivan (Knoxville, Tenn.) buried one of her two three-pointers to snap a six-minute field goal drought. C-N got as close as four, but never led in the second and trailed by five at intermission.

After allowing just 26 percent shooting in the second quarter, C-N increased its defensive tenacity after halftime and the offense followed suit. The Lady Eagles opened the second half on a 12-2 run to lead 40-34 with 3:39 left in the third. UVA Wise's first of just two field goals in the third quarter came at the three-minute mark. Back-to-back Caroline Hill (Kingsport, Tenn.) triples pushed the lead to double-digits late in the third.

Carson-Newman maintained its double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter. The lead extended to 17 after Delaney Weddington (Morristown, Tenn.) and Abigail Johnson (Baxter, Tenn.) layups that ended a 11-2 run to start the fourth. Nuckolls buried one of her two triples with 4:31 left to give C-N its biggest lead of the game at 18, part of a fourth quarter stretch where C-N made its first seven shots of the frame.

Keeleigh Rogers (Knoxville, Tenn.) did just about everything for Carson-Newman in the win. She came up an assist short of a double-double, dishing out a team-best nine assists to pair with a team-leading 10 boards. Her defensive prowess was critical as well. Drawing the matchup of Caroline Mullins, the conference's leading scorer, Rogers held Mullins to just one of five shooting after halftime and just two second half points. Mullins finished with an inefficient 14 points.

"She is one of our best defenders," Mincey said. "She is the one we want to put on the opposing team's best player. The best thing about her to is that she has good size and guard somebody inside and outside. She leads the league in assists, she leads us in rebounding. Whether she puts the ball in the bucket or not, all those other intangibles are so great in helping us be successful."

Carson-Newman was outrebounded 47-40 and that led to a 16-6 Wise advantage on the offensive glass. The Cavaliers scored 22 second chance points, with more than half their baskets coming after an offensive rebound.

The Lady Eagles now move into South Atlantic Conference semifinals and will match up against eighth-seeded Anderson tomorrow at noon. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 11:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A live stream of the contest is available with a subscription to FloSports. A live camera of the broadcast crew "On Press Row" will also be available on YouTube.

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