Jefferson City, Tenn. – The Anderson University (5-3, 5-1 SAC) women's basketball team saw its 12-point lead diminish during the third quarter of action and the Black and Gold could not recover falling to preseason South Atlantic Conference favorite Carson-Newman (6-2, 4-1 SAC), 70-68, on Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.
"Unfortunately we let one get away from us today," said head coach Jonathon Barbaree. "It's not often you can steal a win at Carson-Newman and we had our chance."
"We have to knock down our free throws in a close game," emphasized Barbaree.
"With that said, I do think we had a lot of positive take aways from today's game," said Barbaree. "I was very pleased with our offensive production in the first half and we showed some grit when we fell behind with two minutes left, by clawing back into it and giving ourselves a chance on the last play."
Graduate student Shameka McNeill led all-scores with a career-high 30 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, 7-of-9 behind the arc and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. McNeill added two assists, two steals and two rebounds to her stat line on the afternoon. Freshman Diamond McDowell joined McNeill in double –digit scoring dropping in 10 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Senior Britney Bailey continued her strong effort on the boards, hauling in 14 rebounds for the Black and Gold.
Carson-Newman placed four Eagles in double-digits with Braelyn Wykle scoring team high honors with 21 points. Center Lindsey Taylor added 15 points and 10 rebounds, while guards Campbell Penland and Skylar Boshears chipped in 10 points apiece.
Anderson enjoyed its most production half to date, scoring 41 points and carrying a 12-point lead into halftime.
Carson –Newman's Wykle made three 3-point baskets over a one minute span to help cut the lead to five. The Black and Gold's slow scorning and the Eagles hot hand led to Carson-Newman taking a four-point lead heading into the final period of play.
The Eagles led by as many as eight with 3:16 to go. The Trojans battled back pulling within two with 1:40 to play on senior Taylor Hair's two made free throws, 70-68. Carson-Newman was able to escape with Anderson missing two late free throw and Hair's shot in the waning seconds hitting off the back of the iron.
Anderson returns home after, three straight road game, to host South Atlantic Conference opponent Coker on Wednesday. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 pm.
