Jefferson City, Tenn. — The Catawba College women's basketball team fought back from a double-digit fourth quarter deficit to pull within two points in the final minute, but Carson-Newman held on for the victory in the South Atlantic Conference opener on Saturday.
TEAM STATISTICS
- Catawba shot 25-for-61 (41 percent) from the field, while Carson-Newman went 27-of-67 (40 percent) from the floor
- The Catawba Indians were 4-for-13 (31 percent) from three-point range; the Eagles went 8-of-27 (30 percent) from long range
- C-N went 17-for-18 (94 percent) from the free throw line, while Catawba was 21-for-25 (84 percent) at the charity stripe
- Carson-Newman out-rebounded the Catawba Indians 49-31, but it was the visitors that held the 14-12 edge in second-chance points
- The Eagles recorded 23 assists to 20 turnovers, while Catawba had 16 assists to 15 turnovers; C-N had a slight edge in points off turnovers
- Catawba led in points in the paint (38-34), but Carson-Newman led in fastbreak points (27-21) and bench points (25-10)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Mary Spry recorded her fourth straight game with 20 or more points, scoring 21 points with nine rebounds and four blocks
- Bailee Goodlett added 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals
- Brooklin Ingram chipped in 12 points with two three-pointers
- Kairah Dixon-Booker was the fourth Catawba Indian with double figures with 11 points on just four shot attempts
- Julie Janus logged 23 minutes with eight points in the start
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
- Catawba jumped out to an early lead as Goodlett scored the game's first five points
- Carson-Newman's Jennifer Sullivan cut the Eagles' deficit to a point two minutes later with a layup
- An Ingram triple and a Spry jumper pushed the Catawba Indian lead back to six
- An and-one from the Eagles tied the game at 12 near the midway point
- Catawba returned the lead to five on Sheree Gidney's jumper at the 2:15 mark
- C-N re-tied the game on a Mattie Nuckolls' tip-in; the teams ended a back-and-forth opening quarter tied at 21
SECOND QUARTER
- Carson-Newman broke a deadlocked game with a 7-0 run to take a lead over two minutes in
- The lead grew to 18 points at the 2:29 mark
- C-N led 44-28 at the halftime break
THIRD QUARTER
- Catawba chipped the lead down to single digits with a 10-3 run to open the second half after Dixon-Booker's and-one under the seven-minute mark
- The teams traded points back and forth until Carson-Newman went up 14 on a pair of free throws in the final minute
- The Eagles led 62-50 with 10 minutes remaining
FOURTH QUARTER
- Dixon-Booker's free throws and layup surrounded Spry's jumper for a 6-0 Catawba run that got the deficit down to 66-60 near the five-minute mark
- Emily Gonzalez's three-pointer pushed the Carson-Newman lead back to 10 points with 3:24 remaining
- Spry, Ingram and Goodlett baskets constituted another 6-0 run that got Catawba within four with under two to go
- Spry converted a tip-in with the foul and the Catawba Indians forced a turnover and Janus finished through contact to cut the game to 75-73 with 29 seconds remaining
- C-N knocked down a pair of free throws to go up four; Goodlett converted a layup with four seconds left, but couldn't get the steal on the inbounds
UP NEXT
- Catawba quickly returns back to action, traveling to Fayetteville State on Monday for a 5:30 p.m. start
