Lady Eagles end No.15 LMU’s perfect home run, advance to Regional Championship
March 15, 2026

Lady Eagles end No.15 LMU’s perfect home run, advance to Regional Championship

HARROGATE, Tenn. – For the second straight day, fifth-seeded Carson-Newman (23-10) collects a ranked win at the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Eagles used a complete performance to snap top-seeded No. 15 Lincoln Memorial’s (26-5) 17-game home winning streak, winning 69-55 at Tex Turner Arena on Saturday night in the NCAA Southeast Regional Semifinals.

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Mike Mincey Interview

VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference

HARROGATE, Tenn. – For the second straight day, fifth-seeded Carson-Newman (23-10) collects a ranked win at the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Eagles used a complete performance to snap top-seeded No. 15 Lincoln Memorial's (26-5) 17-game home winning streak, winning 69-55 at Tex Turner Arena on Saturday night in the NCAA Southeast Regional Semifinals.

The victory is Carson-Newman's 12th all-time in the NCAA Tournament, but just the first time ever defeating the top-seed on their home floor.

"If we could score the ball effectively we felt like had a chance to certainly pull the upset," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "From the get go, I liked the mindset of our team. LMU beat us the last time we played and we did not play well offensively. Tonight was much better."

Defense continues to be one of the key calling cards for Carson-Newman this postseason. The Lady Eagles' defense held the Railsplitters to their fewest points at home this season at 55 and held them to just 39 percent shooting and 29 percent shooting from three-point range.

"I thought we did a really good job tonight defensively," Mincey said. "When you are trying to deal with (Kamil) Collier inside, it's a difficult chore. With them (LMU), you have to pick your poison, do you want to take away their twos or threes because you can't take away both. In the second half, I thought we really did a good job of taking away both. I liked our defensive effort on that end, as we challenged mostly everything they got."

Carson-Newman's offense was balanced and efficient all game long. It made 40 percent or better of its shots in each quarter, finishing the night at 45 percent and 53 percent from long range.

Leading four double-digit scorers was junior Mattie Nuckolls (Chatsworth, Ga.). She notched her fourth 20-point game in her last six games, finishing with 20 points on seven of 11 shooting and matched her career-high with four triples on five attempts. It's the third time in the last four games she's made four threes on six attempts or fewer.

Jennifer Sullivan's (Knoxville, Tenn.) three field goals all came from long distance, where she connected on three of her seven triples. She now has 84 three-pointers this season, the second-most in a season in program history. Sullivan finished with 15 points in the win.

Emily Gonzalez (Lenoir City, Tenn.) scored 14 points in 35 minutes, going perfect from the foul line. Delaney Weddington (Morristown, Tenn.) rounded out C-N's double-digit scorers with 13 points on six for eight shooting with seven rebounds.

The first half was filled with scoring runs. LMU connected on a three-pointer to start the night, but a Sullivan trifecta capped a 9-0 scoring burst to help the Lady Eagles lead by six, four minutes into the game. Shortly after, Nuckolls scored five straight to increase the margin to eight with 3:27 left in the first period. The Railsplitters had the final run of the first, scoring 10 straight points to lead by two.

The Lady Eagles used another 9-0 scoring run to jump in front by eight again. Sullivan buried two more triples to make it a 26-18 lead with three minutes left in the half. Both teams made three baskets the rest of the half, but LMU's were three-pointers to make it a four-point game at intermission.

Nuckolls' continued her scoring prowess into the third quarter. She connected on a pair of triples in the frame that elevated C-N's lead to 11. Gonzalez buried one of her two threes in the game to help the Lady Eagles carry a 12-point lead into the final frame.

Carson-Newman kept Lincoln Memorial arm's length away for the entire fourth quarter. LMU never got within single digits in the fourth. In the final five minutes of the game, C-N scored seven of its nine points at the foul line to seal a 14-point road win.

Carson-Newman's defense not only forced LMU into a low shooting percentage but also forced the fifteenth-ranked Railsplitters into 17 turnovers, which turned into 26 Carson-Newman points. C-N only committed 12 mistakes and LMU capitalized just four points on it.

The SAC Player of the Year and D2CCA Region Player of the Year Kamil Collier finished with 20 points and seven rebounds for LMU.

Carson-Newman entered this postseason run with just one all-time win against a ranked team and now has collected a pair in consecutive days.

"How can I not be proud of them," Mincey said. "A lot of people counted us out. It motivated our kids. We went through some adversity and some struggles and didn't play our best. But I really felt like when we were going through that mess, that there might be something good on the other side of it. It's pretty special, second regional title game in three year. It'll be nice if we can pull one out."

Carson-Newman moves into the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship game on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. against the second-seed and eighteenth-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne. Tip off from Tex Turner Arena in Harrogate, Tennessee is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Coverage on Monday night with the Eagle Sports Network begins at 6:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A live camera of the broadcast crew "On Press Row" will also be available on YouTube.

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