NDIANAPOLIS --- Tusculum College freshman Kendal Baxter knocked down 13 three-pointers last week during the Pioneers' championship run in the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament to jump four spots to sixth in the nation in treys per game, announced NCAA officials Tuesday with the release of the latest edition of the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball statistics.
The Pioneers (20-9) are listed in 15 individual and team categories, ranking 15th in the nation in team scoring with an average of 78 points per game. Tusculum is also ranked 42nd in field goal percentage (43.1), 51st in scoring margin (+8.8), 61st in blocked shots (3.7), and 62nd in rebounding margin (+3.8).
Baxter averaged 4.3 three-pointers per game last week for the Pioneers to raise her season average to 3.3 triples per contest. The freshman sharpshooter posted an impressive 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) weekend in her first trip to the Catawba Valley Community College Arena, helping the Pioneers capture the program's first-ever SAC Tournament title and secure an NCAA Tournament bid for the third straight year.
South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year Jasmine Gunn enters the week ranked 13th in scoring (20.7), 17th in steals (3.0), and assists (5.0), and is the only player in the NCAA to be ranked in the top 35 in each category in her respective division.
Gunn is in the midst of a one-of-a-kind season for the Pioneers, averaging a career-high 20.7 points per game to rank 13th in the nation in individual scoring, thanks to an impressive scoring average of 26.3 markers per contest over her last 10 games. The 4-11 All-American recently became the first player in program history to surpass both the 1,000- and 1,500-point plateau in her career, pouring in 15 points in Sunday's SAC Tournament Championship win over Newberry to enter this weekend's Southeast Regional with 1,506 markers in 91 career games.
Junior Catherine Hintz continues to be ranked among the nation's leaders in blocked shots and rebounding, entering the week listed 51st in rejections (1.6) and 70th in boards (8.5). Senior Kat Spears is also listed among the nation's leaders in blocked shots, ranking 75th in the country in rejections per game (1.5).
Tusculum returns to the court on Friday when the Pioneers travel to Greenwood, S.C. to participate in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Tournament, hosted by Lander University. The seventh-seeded Pioneers, who are making their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, will take on second-seeded No. 19 Clayton State University in the quarterfinal round at 2:30 p.m.
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