TOP PHOTO: Former Campbell Lady Cougar Skylar Boshears and Carson-Newman celebrate winning the South Atlantic Conference regular season championship last month.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (SPECIAL TO WLAF) – For the fourth year in a row, Carson-Newman is dancing being selected to the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships released Sunday. The Lady Eagles are the No. 3 seed playing at Holt Fieldhouse on Friday night against sixth-seeded Catawba at a time to be determined.

“Last week when we lost, we knew we had a good enough resume to get in,” Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. “I am kind of surprised honestly that we stayed at the three with Tusculum going through beating Newberry, Catawba and a hot LMU team and winning the SAC Tournament. Clearly the national committee saw something in our resume, probably our head-to-head win at their place. With only six teams getting in, you have to be thankful in this weird Covid year that we are still in play and get to play on our home floor.”

Dancing for the 11th time in program history, this is the first time that the school has been to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Carson-Newman had been to the dance in back-to-back seasons once doing so in 2009 and 2010. This year is the fifth time in coach Mike Mincey’s 10 seasons at Mossy Creek that the Lady Eagles are in the field.

The last time the program made an appearance in at least four postseason national tournaments in a row came from 1989-93 when it went to five consecutive NAIA District 26 Playoffs winning three contests over that stretch.

In 15 postseason games since joining Division II, Carson-Newman is 6-9 having won the first round contest in 2005, 2010 and 2018. Three of the wins came en route to a region title in 2018 and two came in 2005 when it was members of the South Atlantic Region losing the final to Shaw 67-53.

A school from the South Atlantic Conference has advanced to the Elite Eight on six occasions with Wingate going in 1995, 1996 and 2008. Mars Hill advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2002 and Tusculum made a trip in 2010. No program has won a game in the Elite Eight in those six outings.

The Orange and Blue won the SAC’s scoring title for the sixth straight season averaging 81.3 points per game, good for ninth in the country. C-N is 12th in Division II in field-goal percentage at 46.6 per night and sixth in assists per game dishing out 18 on average.

Braelyn Wykle (Greeneville, Tenn.) is one of the best players in the country ranking fourth nationally in scoring at 23.6 points per game that stands to be a school-record for a single year. The SAC Player of the Year has scored in double figures in every game on the year with 15 efforts of at least 20 points with a career-high 33 at Wingate on Feb. 3 where she went 8-for-16 from the field and six of nine from deep.

“It’s motivation especially with it being here at home,” Wykle said. “With the season ending the way it did last year and on top of that losing the game [to LMU on Monday] we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder.”

Mincey has a deep roster of weapons that features four all-conference selections tying the league record for most in a single year and the second time in four years the club has matched the mark. Fellow first-team selection Lindsey Taylor (Maryville, Tenn.) is joined by second-team pick Addison Byrd (Nashville, Tenn.) and honorable mention selection Skylar Boshears (Lafollette, Tenn.).

“It feels great,” Byrd said. “We had a lot of expectations going into this season and I think we have done a great job of being able to exceed those expectations so I am exciting for us to see what we can do in this tournament. People think that we are a good team so let’s prove it.”

In the regular-season finale, the Lady Eagles secured their sixth overall regular-season crown and their fourth outright SAC title in the history of the program behind their largest win of the season, a 39-point pounding of Lincoln Memorial.

Carson-Newman is the host site for the new-look regional that includes teams from the SAC, Conference Carolinas and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Lady Eagles had won 12 straight home games before falling by six to Lincoln Memorial in the SAC Quarterfinals. Overall since 2016, the team is 57-10 at home with no losses decide by more than two possessions.

In nine home affairs this year, the team is shooting a tick shy of 50 percent from the floor and averaging 86 points per game. It has eclipsed 50 percent efficiency from the field in six of the nine contests including six of the last seven.

This season is the third time that the program will face a fellow SAC team. The Lady Eagles beat Lenoir-Rhyne 79-72 in the opening round on March 12, 2010 in Greenwood, S.C and took down Anderson en route to the 2018 region title, 70-62, in the first round in a one versus eight matchup.

Carson-Newman and Catawba have met 71 times overall with the Lady Eagles on top 38-33 and this will be the ninth postseason matchup. The Indians hold have 5-3 overall edge in the postseason. Seven of the eight meetings have come in the SAC Tournament. On Feb. 25, 1993, the teams met in an NAIA Tournament Regional game in Salisbury, N.C. with the tribe coming out on top 75-70.

Belmont Abbey and Barton captured the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds respectively and earned a bye to the regional semifinals. The two clubs split the regular-season meeting before the Crusaders won the Conference Carolinas Championship 68-62 earlier Sunday to run their winning streak to 18 games.

Tusculum won its second SAC Tournament trophy in a row Sunday afternoon defeating LMU 59-47 and will play the late night game on Friday against SIAC club and 12-3 Benedict.

The winner of the Southeast advances to the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Elite Eight in Columbus, Ohio, on March 23-26. The eight region champions will get reseeded and matchups will be announced following the conclusion of the regional rounds.

Friday, March 12, 2021 (Jefferson City, Tenn.)
TBD – #4 Tusculum vs. #5 Tuskegee
TBD – #3 Carson-Newman vs. #6 Catawba

Saturday, March 13, 2021 (Jefferson City, Tenn.)
TBD – #1 Belmont Abbey vs. #4/5 winner
TBD – #2 Barton vs. #3/6 winner

Monday, March 15, 2021 (Jefferson City, Tenn.)
TBD – Southeast Region Championship Game

(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 03/08/2021-6AM)

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