VIDEO: Braelyn Wykle Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Facing its largest halftime deficit since 2020, Carson-Newman turned a 12-point halftime margin into an eight-point second-half lead before surviving a last second shot to beat Anderson 70-68 Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse handing the Trojans their first loss in South Atlantic Conference play.
"The way we played in the first half finding ourselves down 12 only scoring 29 points and to put a complete different performance together in the second half is satisfying," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We aren't super healthy. I am proud of how they had to come together. We had to play a few players monster minutes tonight. We had to change our entire scheme to some degree based off of who was available. I am happy for them. They were tied for first in the league and super big. We couldn't give this one up because of the one to Wingate. It's a great win against a quality opponent."
The Lady Eagles beat the Trojans for the third straight meeting matching their longest winning streak in the series for the fourth time. Carson-Newman (6-2, 4-1) outscored Anderson (5-3, 5-1) 41-27 after halftime forcing 23 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored 19 of her team-high 21 points after halftime to move past Ashley Tipton for third on the school's all-time scoring list and into the 23rd slot.
"I didn't really start the game very good," Wykle said. "We as a team didn't play well in the first half. I have a quote that I have stood by that says 'adversity breeds toughness. Toughness breeds success.' That is the first thing that I thought of in the locker room. You have to be tough and it showed on offense more but that kind of got us going in the right direction."
Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) fouled out but finished with her third double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds making six of her nine shots from the floor.
Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) and Skylar Boshears (LaFollette, Tenn.) each added 10 points with the former adding three assists and three steals and the latter chipping in four boards and two helpers.
�� Massive second half comeback
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) December 4, 2021
�� 41-27 scoring in the second half
�� @TaylorGoforth41 filling up the stat sheet
3️⃣ straight @CNwbasketball wins over Anderson pic.twitter.com/jBiNUwkd5B
Offensive rebounding started early for the Trojans corralling 10 in the opening 10 minutes scoring 15 second-chance points. Behind a 9-2 burst the visitors went ahead 21-13. After starting 3-for-6, C-N missed 10 of its final 13 shots of the frame to fall behind 21-13 after 10 minutes.
It was an 11-point game at 24-13 before the Lady Eagles surged to score eight unanswered points closing the gap to 24-21 on a layup from Taylor four minutes into the second. Anderson scored 14 of the final 20 points of the half to take a 41-29 advantage into the locker room.
It was the fewest first half points and largest halftime deficit of the season for C-N. It was the largest halftime deficit since trailing the Trojans by 12, 55-43, at Holt on Feb. 1, 2020, a game the Lady Eagles lost on a buzzer beater, 102-100, in double overtime.
Wykle scored the team's first 13 points of the third as the Lady Eagles opened on an 18-4 burst in the period to go on top 47-45 at the midway point. C-N made 10 of 12 at the free-throw line to take a 57-53 edge into the final frame.
Behind a 6-0 spurt the Lady Eagles were able to build their largest lead of the day at 70-62 with 3:27 to play on free throws from Wykle. It would be the last points of the day for the home side. The Trojans did not make a field goal over the final 5:03 but hit six foul shots to make it a one score game. With the ball and four seconds to go, Taylor Hair caught an inbound in the left corner missing the shot too strong to close out the contest.
After scoring 24 second-chance points in the first half, the Trojans tallied four in the second half. Despite being outrebounded for the game 54-41, C-N held a 23-21 edge in the second stanza against the No. 2 rebounding team in the country.
Shameka McNeill fouled out but finished with a game-high 30 points in 29 minutes on 9-for-16 shooting. She made seven of nine from three-point range after entering the game shooting 17 percent from distance.
Diamond McDowell was the only other player to finish in double figures with 10 points going 2-for-12 from the floor. Samantha Michel yanked down 10 rebounds and Britney Bailey led all players with 14 boards but went 1-for-12 from the field.
The Lady Eagles begin a two-game road swing starting on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m. at UVA Wise with broadcast coverage airing on the Eagle Sports Network 15 minutes before tip with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off".
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