Both men and women take wins against USCA

The Carson-Newman men and women’s basketball teams played their final home games before the Christmas break Wednesday night as they hosted the University of South Carolina-Aiken. The Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Pacers 73-70 in overtime and the Eagles downed USCA 105-72 
LADY EAGLES 73, LADY PACERS 70
The Lady Eagles are off their best start in 20 years as they improved to 6-0 with a 73-70 win over the Lady Pacers. USC-Aiken falls to 9-4.  
Brooke Johnson (Seymour, Tenn.) and LaToya Davison (College Park, Ga.) each scored 15 points to lead the Lady Eagles. Tiffany Parker (Newnan, Ga.) had a double-double as she scored 13 points and added 14 rebounds. Brittaney Gooch (Franklin, Ky.) and Nicole Avrett (Shirley, Ark.) each had 11 points for C-N. 
Benazura Serbecic (Banovici, Bosnia) had a huge game for the Lady Pacers as she scored a game-high 23 points and yanked down 12 rebounds. Lana Mandic (Sarajevo, Bosnia) scored 15 points and Mindy Allee (Clayton, Wisc.) added 11 points. Katie Gebhardt (Charlotte, N.C.) had 11 rebounds for the Lady Pacers.  
The Lady Eagles overcame double-digit leads in both halves to claim the win. The Lady Pacers took a 16-point lead at 23-7 at the 8:39 mark of the first half on a lay-up by Eboni Speller (Clarksville, Tenn.). C-N cut into the lead and tied the game at 28-28 with 58 seconds to go in the half when Davison scored a short jump shot. But Serbecic scored four points to end the half and give the Lady Pacers a 32-28 lead.  
USC-Aiken built a 10-point lead on three different occasions in the second half with the final one coming on a three-pointer by Allee at the 11:26 mark to give her team a 50-40 advantage. But once again, the Lady Eagles clawed back into the contest and took a 62-60 lead on a lay-up by Parker with 1:40 remaining in regulation. Serbecic tied the score at 62-62 with 1:18 to go and neither team could score the rest of the way and the game went into overtime.  
The first three minutes of the overtime period was close until C-N claimed a 70-66 lead on two Johnson free throws. C-N converted on their free throws down the stretch to seal the 73-70 victory.  
The Lady Eagles travel to Lincoln Memorial on Dec. 17 for a 6 p.m. tip-off against the Lady Railsplitters.  
EAGLES 105, PACERS 72 
The Eagles used a 24-0 run in the first half and went on to clip the century mark with a 105-72 win over the USC-Aiken Pacers. C-N improves to 3-6 while the Pacers stand at 4-4.  
Freshman Andy Tipton (Maryville, Tenn.) and senior Jonathan Martin (Knoxville, Tenn.) were nearly unstoppable in the game against the Pacers. Tipton nailed six three pointers and ended the game with 28 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Martin had a double-double as he converted on 11 of 13 field goals to score 24 points and added 10 rebounds. He also had four blocks, an assist and a steal. Brian Bogus (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored a career-high 13 points and Braun Dabbs (Greeneville, Tenn.) had 12 assists, seven points and six rebounds.
The Pacers were led in scoring by Marcus Robinson (Sanford, Fla.) who finished the contest with 20 points. Josh Poston (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) added 15 points for the Pacers and Curt Triplin (Hopkins, S.C) scored 11 points.  
The Eagles quickly built an 11-0 run through the first three minutes of the game. The Pacers trimmed the lead to 28-21 with a free throw by Triplin at the 8:37 mark. But that would be it for the Pacers for the next eight minutes as C-N used a 24-0 run to blow the game wide open. Bogus scored seven points in the big Eagles run and Marquis Foster (Greenville, S.C.) added five points, which included a monster, dunk off the backboard on an assist from Dabbs. C-N led by 30 points, 54-24 at the half.  
The two teams swapped baskets to begin the second half until the Eagles pushed the lead to 97-57 on a bogus basket. C-N went over the 100-point mark when Bogus scored on a jump shot with 3:14 remaining in the half. The Eagles shot 63% (20-32) from the field in the second half and ended the game with a 59% (39-66) field goal percentage. C-N had assists on 32 of the 39 baskets they scored, led by Dabbs’ 12. The Pacers were held to only 35% (27-77) from the field including a 24% (8-33) clip in the first 20 minutes of the contest.  
The Eagles return to action on Dec. 17 as they travel to take on Lincoln Memorial at 8 p.m.

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