ANDERSON, S.C. - Using a strong second-half scoring outburst, the Anderson women's basketball team opened a two-game South Atlantic Conference homestand by topping Carson-Newman, 60-46, Saturday afternoon at the Abney Athletic Center.
Anderson (11-5, 5-1 SAC) stretched its win streak to four games while earning its ninth win in the last 11 outings and snapped a three-game skid at hands of Carson-Newman, which fell to 9-4 overall and 3-3 in the league.
Anderson senior guard Alissa Diaz, who was honored prior to the game for becoming the 10th player in school history to reach 1, 000 career points, led all players with 17 points and swiped two steals. Senior Amanda Parris added nine second-half points, while forward Breonda Shannon narrowly missed her fourth double-double of the season, with nine points and nine rebounds.
Carson-Newman's Shyra Clark tallied 14 points, with teammate Courdne Miles adding 11. Senior forward Nikki James recorded a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Trojans led wire-to-wire, with a pair of early 3-pointers, one by sophomore guard Lesley Woods and one from senior Tilde Ahlin, giving AU a quick 6-1 lead, while the Trojan defense forced four early turnovers and held Carson-Newman to 1-of-9 shooting in the opening eight minutes of action. The Trojans pushed out to their largest lead of the first half, at 18-6, on Diaz's traditional three-point play with exactly 11 minutes on the clock.
But the Lady Eagles responded with a 10-1 run over the next six minutes to close the gap to just 19-16 with 5:35 remaining in the first half. Shannon answered for the Trojans, scoring five unanswered points on two free throws and a traditional three-point play before Diaz dropped in a layup to push AU's lead back to double digits, at 26-16, with less than three minutes left in the half.
Carson-Newman's Clark closed the half with six consecutive points to set Anderson's lead at 26-22 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.
With the score knotted at 32-32 at the 13:40 mark of the second stanza, the Trojans reeled off 12 unanswered points as part of a 15-2 run that broke the game open. AU capitalized on four consecutive three-point plays in a seven-minute span, with Diaz sparking the surge with a traditional three-point play. Parris followed with back-to-back treys and Ahlin added a 3-pointer along with freshman guard Madison Floyd. Floyd capped the run with two free throws at the 6:32 mark to give Anderson a 49-34 cushion.
The Trojans, who at 5-1 are off to their best start in
conference play since joining the league for the 2010-11 season,
close out their two-game conference homestand by playing host to
preseason league-favorite Wingate on Wednesday, then visit Brevard
one week from today. Tip-off versus the Bulldogs is slated for 6
p.m. at the Abney Center.
