Wlaf1450TOP PHOTO: Former Campbell Lady Cougar Skylar Boshears (right, hands on hips) led her Carson-Newman team to a big home win on Saturday.
JEFFERSON CITY, TN (SPECIAL TO WLAF) – Behind a first half shooting performance that saw 13th-ranked Carson-Newman shoot 64 percent, the Lady Eagles cruised to a 10th straight home win and their largest victory of the year beating Queens 93-62 Saturday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse in South Atlantic Conference action. Former Campbell Lady Cougar Skylar Boshears scored 21 points in 21 minutes to go along with two assists, one steal and four rebounds. Bo was 5 for 5 at the line.
“I thought we were getting the ball in the right areas for the right people to get the right shots,” Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. “When we take care of it and don’t turn it over we do shoot a high percentage and score a lot of points but we had seven points in the first half. We left a few points on the board. If you score 49 in the half you have to feel pretty good about it.”
With 10 wins in a row at the friendly confines, the Lady Eagles extend the fourth-longest active streak in the region and record their eighth such stretch in program history. Eight of the 10 contests have been by double figures.
Carson-Newman (10-1, 10-1) continued its dominance over Queens (1-10, 1-9) winning for the 13th consecutive meeting, its longest active streak against any SAC program. Eleven of the 13 have been by double digits and all seven played at Mossy Creek have been by at least 17.
The Orange and Blue finished the game shooting 56 percent from the field making 11 of its 12 foul shots assisting on 28 of 38 made field goals. A trio of sophomores finished in double figures led by 23 points from Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) on 9-for-15 shooting from the floor. She added five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.) netter her 20-point scoring effort of the year with 21 points chipping in four rebounds. Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) added 13 points and eight boards.
Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) filled up the stat sheet with a career-high five steals adding seven points, four assists and two rebounds in a season-high 23 minutes.
“Even if you are not hitting shots, you can always play defense,” Wilson said. “The Lord made me fast so I might as well use it. I saw how effective it was [to get steals]. You can throw off a team so bad. If you are helping your team get the other team frustrated it always spells success.”
Carson-Newman wasted no time getting out of the gates to an 8-0 start in less than two minutes. Following a pair of three-pointers from the Royals, the home club rattled off 10 in a row capped by a layup from Taylor. Queens answered by scoring eight straight to cut the deficit to 22-16 with 2:50 to play in the first.
The Lady Eagles kicked things into gear scoring 27 of the final 38 points of the first half to take a 49-27 lead into the locker room leading by as many as 26 points in the first half. C-N produced four separate scoring runs of 8-0 or better in the opening 20 minutes.
Queens kept the margin at 22 after three periods thanks to 47 percent shooting from the floor in the third but the home team found its rhythm again in the final 10 minutes shooting 53 percent from the floor and swelling the margin to a season-high lead of 33 points before settling on a 31-point win.
Kalaya Hall scored a game-high 26 points adding seven assists, three steals and three rebounds. She scored or assisted on 16 of the team’s 22 made shots in the game. Caitlyn Moore notched 14 points and five boards off of the bench.
The Lady Eagles start another three-game road trip Wednesday night visiting UVA Wise for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off from the Prior Center. Broadcast coverage airs on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and cnealges.com/live starting at 5:15 p.m. with “The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off.” (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 02/08/2021-6AM)