Smoky Mountain Today

Opening 2023, Carson-Newman led at halftime but saw a third-quarter surge by Belmont Abbey dig a hole the Lady Eagles never overcame falling 74-64 at the Wheeler Center Tuesday afternoon.

"It's hard to win games on the road anyway but when you are turning it over 17 times in the second half you can forget it," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "I think in the third quarter we turned it over eight times. We didn't shoot the ball well. They did a good job getting a bunch of points off of turnovers. Instead of being up three, we go down six to nine. I am proud of how we fought back. Untimely turnovers that ultimately killed us."

Carson-Newman (8-6) had won 10 straight games when facing Conference Carolinas clubs falling for the first time since Dec. 11, 2013 against Limestone. In the first meeting in 30 years, the Crusaders pick up their second win in three meetings with the Orange and Blue.

Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) led the Lady Eagles with 17 points in the game adding nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Campbell Penland (Sevierville, Tenn.) also finished in double figures with 10 points, five boards and five assists.

After falling behind 5-2 in the early portions of the contest, C-N used a 10-2 scoring surge to go ahead 12-7 with under four minutes to play in the first frame. The Lady Eagles stretched the margin to six at 16-10 only to see the Crusaders score nine of the final 10 points of the first quarter to go ahead 19-17.

The first half saw seven ties and seven lead changes as the teams swapped scores in the second quarter. With the score knotted at 31 in the waning seconds, Harli Smith (Jamestown, Tenn.) drilled a deep trifecta from the top of the key to put the visitors ahead 34-31 at halftime.

Belmont Abbey scored the first five points of the second half and used a 16-4 outburst to open the period to build a 47-38 lead in the third. C-N went 3:36 without points in the period and trailed 49-43 going into the fourth.

The Lady Eagles pulled within two with 6:07 to play in the game but Taylor Stelley drilled a three on the next possession and an errant throw-in gave two more points to the Crusaders. Carson-Newman could only pull within four on three occasions the rest of the way burying all 10 foul shots in the final period to seal the win.

For the game, Belmont Abbey made all 23 foul shots marking the best effort in Division II this season surpassing Valdosta State's 17-for-17 yesterday against Montevallo. The Crusaders entered the game fourth in the country at 81 percent for the year.

The Lady Eagles turned the ball over seven times in the fourth and 20 times overall for the game leading to 30 points off of the miscues. C-N's last four opponents had been held below 40 percent shooting before the home group shot 47 percent on Tuesday.

Four Crusaders finished in double figures led by 18 points from Catherine Hendershott. Abigail Crain tossed in 17 points and six boards while Stelley finished with 15 and Riley James added 10 off of the bench.

The Lady Eagles return to South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday at 2 p.m. visiting Lincoln Memorial. Broadcast coverage airs on Mountain Talk 106.3 FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45 p.m. with "The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off" courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network.

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