Tusculum College used strong bench play and solid free-throw
shooting to defeat Lincoln Memorial University 74-62 in a South
Atlantic Conference Women's basketball game Wednesday night at
Pioneer Arena.
Playing at home for the first time in 18 days, the Pioneers (14-5,
8-3 SAC) went 24-for-28 from the foul line, including a perfect
10-for-10 performance from Kendal Baxter, to avenge an 82-73 loss
to the Railsplitters on the road on Jan. 4.
Baxter finished with a team-high 18 points for the Pioneers, while
Jama Hammontree added 15 points and Staci Hicks contributed 10
points and seven rebounds. Linda Aughburns grabbed a team-best 11
rebounds and set a career high with five assists as Tusculum won
for the seventh time in its last eight games.
Ashley Thurman led the Pioneer bench with a season-high nine points
in 14 minutes of action, as the Tusculum reserves combined to score
22 points. Alishia Mosley added seven points and Nequoiah Anderson
added four points and a career-best seven rebounds in 16 minutes of
playing time.
Dayshalee Salaman, the leading scorer in the SAC at 21.5 points per
game, led all players with 24 points thanks to a 14-for-15 effort
at the charity stripe. Mariah Richardson came up with a
double-double for the Railsplitters (9-10, 4-7 SAC) with 10 points
and 11 rebounds.
Lincoln Memorial, which held a 53-32 advantage in the boards in
last month's meeting, was outrebounded 45-44 by Tusculum in
Wednesday's game.
"The rebounding stat from the first game was an effort and attitude
thing. It had nothing to do with skill or technique, it was just
toughness," said Pioneer head coach Adell Harris. "They embarrassed
us, and our kids took that to heart. We had a great effort on the
boards tonight."
Baxter, who surpassed 900 career points with her 18-point
performance, entered the night ranked fifth in Division II in
free-throw percentage at 90.5 percent, and improved those numbers
by setting career highs for free throws made and attempted.
The Pioneers shot 33.3 percent from the field (22-for-66), but held
the Railsplitters to 32.2 percent (19-for-59) in the game. Tusculum
committed just 13 turnovers as a team, while forcing LMU into 20
turnovers which they turned into 24 points.
"We had a solid effort from the point guard spot tonight. We were
communicating what we were doing, and our focus and attention to
detail was good," said Harris.
Tusculum led 12-4 after a layup by Thurman with 14:11 left in the
first half, but Lincoln Memorial went on a 10-0 run to take a 14-12
lead on two free throws by Salaman with 10:17 left in the half. A
9-0 run by the Pioneers which gave them a 21-14 lead was answered
with a 9-0 run for the Railsplitters, capped by a steal and layup
by Salaman with 5:41 to go in the half for a 23-21 LMU lead.
The Pioneers scored the final four points of the first half on a
layup by Hicks and two free throws by Anderson to take a 29-25 lead
into the locker room. Baxter led the Pioneers with seven points in
the opening half, while Salaman led all players with 13 points.
Tusculum built its lead to eight points at 39-31 on a layup by
Thurman with 15:44 left, and reached double figures at 49-38 on a
layup by Hicks with 9:08 to go. A three-pointer by Hammontree gave
the Pioneers their largest lead of the night at 54-40 with 7:34 to
play, and the Railsplitters would get no closer than eight the rest
of the way.
The Pioneers thrived at the foul line in the final three minutes,
going 12-for-12 from the stripe as a team. Baxter connected on
eight straight attempts in the last 75 seconds, while the
Railsplitters missed their final three shots and turned the ball
over three times in the last 90 seconds.
April McCann finished with four points for Tusculum, but grabbed
seven rebounds, dished out three assists and came up with three
steals. LMU center Lauren Cochran, who torched the Pioneers for 22
points and 11 rebounds in the teams' first meeting, took just six
shots and finished with nine points and seven boards in 32
minutes.
The Pioneers will be back home Saturday at 2 p.m. with a SAC
matchup against Brevard.
