JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – Looking to get back over .500 for the first time since the end of November, Carson-Newman hosts a South Atlantic Conference contest for the final time in the calendar year with Mars Hill coming to Holt Fieldhouse Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
"We have to take care of business at home," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "With divisional play now, we are back home with a chance to get a win. We are playing better at home than we are on the road. It's another opportunity Wednesday night to come out and try to continue push forward to gain that confidence to where we can go on the road and win games like we can at home. We are still a good enough team to where we can play good basketball but we are still working through learning some things. The more we can learn through film and clean that game up the better off we can be."
To date, the Lady Eagles have played the 13th-most difficult schedule in the country with its foes to date holding a 51-24 overall record good for a .680 winning percentage. The next closest SAC school is Tusculum with the No. 71 schedule as teams are 39-29, .574. Eight teams from the league have played a schedule featuring foes at .500 or worse. Including future opposition, the Orange and Blue are slated to play the 28th-hardest schedule nationally.
Carson-Newman (5-5, 1-2) ranks 11th in the country in free-throw percentage converting at an 80-percent clip for the year. Five players have made at least 10 foul shots and are shooting 90 percent or better with Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) and Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) combined making 54-for-57, 95 percent.
The two clubs are facing off for the 76th affair as C-N is leading Mars Hill (3-5, 0-2) 57-18 behind 12 straight wins and 19 of the last 20. During the current 12-game winning streak, C-N has scored no fewer than 86 points 11 times winning by at least 19 and as many as 63 for an average of 43 per game. Mincey's crew has eclipsed triple digits in five of the last 10. The lone blemish in this recent stretch came at Stanford Arena on Feb. 3, 2016, an 83-82 comeback win for the Lions.
In the Lady Eagles last 26 wins in the series, the team has won by double figures 24 times with the last single-digit win coming on Jan. 7, 2015, a 75-72 victory in the Tar Heel State. C-N has won 10 straight at Holt, all by double digits, since an 87-78 loss to the Lions on Jan. 18, 2012.
Under the guidance of first-year head coach Emry Tsitouris, a former assistant at Wingate and Catawba, has already matched the win total combined from the past two years where the club was 3-43. The program has not won more than four games in a year since going 7-21 in 2016-17.
The Lions have lost 18 straight SAC affairs since beating Lincoln Memorial 61-59 at Stanford Arena on Dec. 11, 2021. The drought is the sixth-longest skid in the nation with Chaminade's 41-game losing streak leading the country. Coker has the next-longest string among conference clubs losing seven in a row.
After opening the year 2-1 with wins over Belmont Abbey and North Greenville, Mars Hill has lost four of five with the lone win coming against Johnson & Wales on Dec. 2, 101-70. In a matchup of the two worst field-goal percentage defenses in the league, the Lions are yielding a 43.4 percent clip allowing 72 points per game for the year.
Jo Snow, the 2018-19 SAC Freshman of the Year at Wingate, is third in the league in scoring posting 18.8 points per game tallying at least 15 in every contest for the season. Coming off of a season-high 28 against Tusculum, the guard has buried 11 of 23 three-point attempts in the last two contests.
Maddie Gillie and Janette Hanni are also averaging double figures for the year. Gillie has had an up and down season with five games in double figures but three others in single digits where she has posted 4-for-28 shooting.
Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 5:15 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network. Video is available with your subscription to FloSports.
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