Carter Likes Defensive Start For Eagles

Tennessee Tech Guard Peyton Carter said she can already see the team’s off-season emphases pay off.

In her fifth season on the team, Carter said this year’s lineup will feature many new faces to the program. She said with basically a new roster this year, the team is attacking weaknesses that have plagued past seasons.

“Last year we were not a very good defensive team,” Carter said. “So, that’s been a big emphasis this pre-season, we want to create our offense off of our defense. So, if we can do that then the score is going to show for itself.”

And in their home opener, the Golden Eagles plan of defense leading to offense worked with the team scoring 21 points off of 25 turnovers. Carter said the opening night performances from program newcomers Chloe Larry and Taris Thornton were nothing short of impressive.

“Coming in and getting the jitters out that’s the most important part,” Carter said. “They’re going to be a huge factor for us, all the newbies are. Keeley Carter, Amelia Pfeiffer, we have a good group of girls that are new to the Golden Eagles.”

As a true freshman playing her first collegiate game, Larry led the Golden Eagles in scoring by dropping 17 points on 5/12 shooting. Senior transfer from Eastern Illinois, Thornton put up 16 points and two blocks in her Tech debut.

Carter had a solid night with 11 points and a team leading six assists. She said while as a whole the game was a positive, there are some lessons to be pulled from the win.

“I think we could have held that team to a little lower of a score,” Carter said. “Defense has been our emphasis all pre-season, so we just need to continue doing that and the offense will show and it kind of did. We put up 80 something points, so I think once we start really honing in and taking it personal on the defensive end, we’re going to start getting transition points.”