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TOP PHOTO: Skylar Boshears had a career night on Thursday at Holt Fieldhouse.
JEFFERSON CITY, TN (SPECIAL TO WLAF) – Former Campbell County Lady Cougar Skylar Boshears led her 11th ranked Carson-Newman Lady Eagles to their 14th win on Thursday afternoon at Mossy Creek.
Boshears opened the scoring with a lay up on her way to a 22-point night in just 24-minutes of action.
Behind a season-high 13 three-pointers and 25 points from the bench, 11th-ranked Carson-Newman seized a lead early and never looked back to a 99-61 throttling of Mars Hill in Thursday night South Atlantic Conference action at Holt Fieldhouse.
“It’s good to see us in our home gym make 13,” Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. “It hasn’t been that way all year but glad to have an opportunity for our kids to shoot in our own gym. It’s been a while since we played here. Making 13 threes is uncommon this year but we will take it.
“We were going to have spread the wealth around and play more aggressive in all categories especially from a rebounding standpoint. To get 49 rebounds and dominate the glass is obviously something that is going to help us as we move on. For everyone to contribute like that shows that we are crashing the glass.”
The Lady Eagles buried 13 of 25 from long distance, the second time this year with double-double triples while matching a season high with 25 points from the bench. All 10 players scored and each athlete pulled down at least three caroms.
Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) paced all scorers with her eight straight 20-point scoring night tallying 27 points on 10 of 19 shooting converting a season-high matching six three-pointers to bring her career tally to 113 moving in 10th on the school’s all-time list passing former teammate Kelci Marosites. The sophomore added three rebounds, three steals and three assists.
Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.) netted 22 points adding career highs with six rebounds and four steals in 24 minutes on the hardwood. Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) tacked on 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Abby Wilson (Kingston, Tenn.) scored eight points and had five boards and five assists off of the bench. Katie Bean (Knoxville, Tenn.) tied for the team lead with six rebounds adding a pair of shot blocks.
“We really just wanted to come in and make a statement because one we were without Lindsey [Taylor] and trying to get back on the road to dominating the conference before we get into the conference tournament,” Bean said. “Lindsey is huge for us. She had 33 at Mars Hill and she is a rebounding machine. Me, [Sydney Pearce] and Harli [Smith] had to step up.”
Carson-Newman (14-1, 14-1) shot 51 percent from the floor, the fourth consecutive home game making better than half of its field-goal attempts. The Lady Eagles pushed their home winning streak to 11 games.
Mincey’s club has beaten Mars Hill (2-15, 2-15) in 10 straight meetings and 17 of the last 18 handing the Lions their 19th straight road loss and their 30th SAC road setback in a row.
The teams traded buckets for the better part of the first two minutes of the game before an 11-2 burst put C-N on top for good 17-9 with 5:10 to play in the first frame.
After leading by nine after 10 minutes, the Lady Eagles found a surge scoring 14 of the final 18 points of the first half to go ahead by 22, 50-28. It was the second-largest lead at the break this season for the unit.
In the third quarter, the home side posted scoring bursts of 9-0 and 8-0 swelling the bulge to 37 points at 79-72 with 2:38 to play in the third. C-N missed seven of its next 10 shots keeping the score around 31 points.
Carson-Newman used a 10-0 sequence to make it a 41-point game before Drew McMilan buried a right corner three with two ticks left to get to the final margin.
De’Ja Marshall notched a monster night with 23 points and 17 rebounds over 39 minutes of basketball going 10-for-23 from the field. Gabby Gianikos finished with 17 points and five assists. The rest of the Lions roster scored a total of 21 points.
The Lady Eagles are back on the road for their final road game of the season on Saturday facing the Limestone Saints at 2 p.m. at Gaffney, South Carolina. Air time on the Eagle Sports Network is 1:45 with “The AEC Countdown to Tip-Off” locally on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 02/19/2021-9AM)