BURSTROM POWERS C-N TO 60-59 WIN AT CATAWBA

Carson-Newman collects first win at Catawba since 2006

The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles basketball team (14-10, 8-9 South Atlantic Conference) collected a 60-59 victory over the Catawba Lady Indians (15-10, 11-6 South Atlantic Conference) at Goodman Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.

Freshman Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) scored a career-high 24 points in the victory, knocking down a season-best six three-pointers as the Lady Eagles earned their first win in Goodman Gymnasium since Jan. 21, 2006.

“I’m proud of our basketball team under the circumstances of losing five of our last six games, knowing that we’re a good basketball team,” said Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey. “So to come over here on the road with Catawba having the type of season they are having and on their Senior Night to pick up a road victory it’s really crucial for our program and basketball team.”

Burstrom was joined in double-figures by senior Nikki James (Cookeville, Tenn.) and junior Shyra Clark (Cleveland, Tenn.) as both players added 11 points for the Carson-Newman cause as the Lady Eagles ended a season-long three game losing streak.

The Lady Indians jumped out to a 16-9 lead in the first six minutes before Carson-Newman would answer with an 8-1 run over the next three minutes to tie the game at 17. After Catawba led 31-26, Carson-Newman cut the lead to 31-30 with 1:14 to play in the half before the Lady Indians added a final basket to lead at the half 33-30.

Catawba built on the lead early in the second half and led 44-40 with 13:23 to play. This set up one of the best runs of the year for Carson-Newman, a 16-0 run over the next six minutes where Burstrom scored 11 of the 16 points for the Lady Eagles who thanks to the run led 56-44 with 7:28 remaining.

Catawba responded with a run of its own, outscoring C-N 11-2 over the next four minutes to cut Carson-Newman’s lead to 58-55 with 3:11 to play. Burstrom knocked down a pair of free throws to give Carson-Newman a 60-57 with 17 seconds left. Catawba’s Taylor May was fouled by Whitney Moody with two seconds left on a layup attempt that was no good, sending May to the line for two shots. She made both, Catawba fouled Burstrom with 1 second remaining, and after Burstrom missed the front end of the one-and-one the clock expired as the Lady Eagles picked up the 60-59 victory.

Making Burstrom’s season-high 24-point performance more impressive was the fact that she did this after going 0-for-12 from the field and 0-for-9 from three-point land in Carson-Newman’s 58-51 loss at home to Anderson this past Saturday.

“I was not happy about it,” said Burstrom about last Saturday’s performance. “We could’ve had a big win against Anderson so I came out more focused on my defense and let my defense take over, once that happened I knew the shots would fall.”

“It meant a lot to me that after the Anderson game she sent a text message to me about how bad she felt about her shooting performance in that game,” said Mincey. “Then she comes back with a point to prove that she can play and score 24 points going 7-for-13 from the field, 6-for-10 from the three was huge and it just shows that she’s one of the best shooters in our league.”

Catawba was led in scoring by Quaneasia Coleman’s 23 points, and she was joined in double-figrues by Taylor May (12) and Chloe Bully (10).

Carson-Newman will play its final regular season game on Saturday with Senior Day and Parents Day against Wingate at 2 p.m. inside Holt Fieldhouse. Coverage of the game is available on the Coca-Cola Eagle Sports Network, beginning with the Farm Bureau Countdown to Tipoff at 1:45 p.m. and the broadcast is also available on www.cneagles.com.