C-N falls to No. 2 Grand Valley State in National Quarterfinals
PITTSBURGH, PA. – Eighth-seeded Carson-Newman’s (24-11) incredible postseason journey ended on Tuesday night at UMPC Cooper Fieldhouse, suffering a 96-48 loss to top-seeded and defending national champion No. 2 Grand Valley State (34-1) in the National Quarterfinals.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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8 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 48 |
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32 | 23 | 21 | 20 | 96 |
VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference
PITTSBURGH, PA. – Eighth-seeded Carson-Newman's (24-11) incredible postseason journey ended on Tuesday night at UMPC Cooper Fieldhouse, suffering a 96-48 loss to top-seeded and defending national champion No. 2 Grand Valley State (34-1) in the National Quarterfinals.
"Grand Valley State is as good as advertised," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "They are extremely solid and big across the board. They got off hot there and hit a bunch of threes. I like our competitive spirit through the second and third quarters, getting outscored by five in the second and eight in the third. Midwest basketball is extremely good and basketball in the GLIAC is extremely good. I'm glad our kids got to experience it.
Grand Valley State's three-point shooting helped create early separation. Molly Anderson buried consecutive triples to start an 11-0 run to jump them out to a 13-2 lead. A Keeleigh Rogers (Knoxville, Tenn.) three-pointer brought GVSU's lead down to single digits at the 6:19 mark. But, the Lakers had another extended scoring run. They ended the final five minutes of the first quarter on a 19-3 scoring run to lead by 24 at the end of the first. GVSU buried six first quarter triples.
Carson-Newman held its own in the opening moments of the second quarter. Mattie Nuckolls (Chatsworth, Ga.) buried a triple and back-to-back C-N free throws got the margin back down to 24. GVSU's defense held and interior scoring helped produce another double-digit scoring run. A 12-0 run last three minutes to push the advantage to 36. C-N won the final three minutes, outscoring the Lakers eight to four.
The Lady Eagles would get their deficit below 30 early in the third quarter. Nuckolls and Sullivan scored five of the first seven points in the half to trim it to a 57-28 game. The Lakers continued to fire quality punches, going on a 13-3 scoring run to elevate their lead back to 39 and eventually 37 at the end of three quarters.
Chloe Heath (Maryville, Tenn.) scored five of C-N's nine fourth quarter points, doing so on consecutive possessions. GVSU's final scoring run was 12-0 close things.
Grand Valley State shot six for 11 from three-point range in the first quarter and would cool off from long distance the rest of the night. They only made three of the final 22 three-point attempts but still managed to shoot 44 percent. Carson-Newman finished the game at 36 percent, and was 40 percent in the second half.
The Lakers outrebounded the Lady Eagles 52-30 and turned 24 offensive rebounds into 32 second-chance points.
Emily Gonzalez (Lenoir City, Tenn.) scored a team-high 11 points on four of nine shooting. She ends her career by scoring in double figures in five straight games, the longest of her career.
Nuckolls joined her in double-figures with 10 points. Rogers led the team in rebounding with seven to go along with seven points.
Tonight's 48-point loss is the worst loss in program history.
The 2025-26 Lady Eagles continued to raise expectations for this program. They won the program's second-ever Regional Championship and did so by defeating three consecutive ranked teams to earn a spot at the Elite Eight, after entering the tournament with just one all-time win in postseason play against a ranked team. Carson-Newman won six games against ranked teams this season, the most ranked wins in a season in at the least the past two decades.
This NCAA Tournament run was also the program's eighth appearance in the last nine years. No team in the Southeast region has more NCAA Tournament appearances over the past decade than C-N's eight. Carson-Newman is also one of just two schools in the South Atlantic Conference with multiple Elite Eight appearances.
This historic season for Carson-Newman women's basketball was defined by a series of elite efforts.
We'll start with points. Jennifer Sullivan and Mattie Nuckolls both scored north of 500 points this season 571 and 507, respectively. They are just the third pair of teammates in program history to score at least 500 points in the same season, joining Lindsey Taylor and Braelyn Wykle in 2023-24 and Haris Price and Mika Wester in 2017-18.
On the topic of scoring and shooting, Sullivan closed her career with 148 career three-pointers, the eighth-most in program history. 87 of those triples came this season, the second-most in a season in program history.
"It's been such a fun year," Sullivan said. "I thought it was so impressive the way we fought through adversity. It always hasn't been easy for us and we always figured out a way to get better from it. You can see that by how we competed in the SAC and regional tournament. It's been so fun and I'm just so grateful to have been here the last two years."
Rebounding wise, Keeleigh Rogers finishes the year with the second-most defensive rebounds all time with 220. Her 286 boards are now eighth-most in a season.
Carson-Newman was an excellent passing team all season and two individuals stood out the most. Rogers dished out 138 assists, the eighth-most in a season and Gonzalez had 117, 15th-best. They are just the second duo in program history with at least 100 assists in a season, joining Price and Wester in 2017-18.
Defensively, Gonzalez and Rogers were menaces all year long. Gonzalez's 73 takeaways are fourth-most in program history and Rogers' 71 are fifth-most.
And finally defensively, Mattie Nuckolls completes the year with 65 rejections, the fourth-most in a season for the program.
Tonight's loss ended the careers of three seniors, Emily Gonzalez, Kali McMahan and Jennifer Sullivan."
"I think Jenn, Emily and Kali have set the bar again for next year's team," Mincey said. "We weren't supposed to be here. We were the fifth seed in the Southeast region and we played some of our best basketball down the stretch to be able to win that region and earn the right to come here. They are going to get rings this year and we'll celebrate that at a later date."
Carson-Newman concludes the 2025-26 season at 24-11.
Team Stats
#2 Grand Valley State
| Game Statistics | Carson-Newman | #2 Grand Valley State |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (19-53) | (32-72) |
| Field Goal % | 35.8% | 44.4% |
| Rebounds | 30 | 52 |
| Assists | 9 | 21 |
| Turnovers | 17 | 7 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 3 | 25 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 11 | 32 |
| Pts in the Paint | 22 | 46 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 4 | 8 |
| Bench Pts | 13 | 44 |
