Haylee Lepaio scored seven of her game-high 22 points during a 10-2 run early in the second half to lead Newberry College to a 77-67 victory over Tusculum College in South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball action Saturday evening from Eleazer Arena.

Lepaio, the conference's leading scoring at 19.5 points per game, added five rebounds and four blocked shots in just 22 minutes of action for the Wolves (14-4, 6-2 SAC), who went 6-for-9 from three-point range as a team and placed four players in double figures against the Pioneers (10-6, 4-4 SAC).

Samantha Creed went 4-for-5 from three-point range and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for Newberry, while Kendra Brown added 13 points and seven rebounds and Zara Pearson chipped in with 11 points.

Tusculum also put four players in double figures, led by a career-high 12 points from Blakeley Burleson and 12 points and seven assist from Breaira Barksdale. Kendal Baxter contributed 11 points and Ashley Thurman chalked up 10 points and seven rebounds, but the Pioneers shot 34.3 percent and allowed a season-high 77 points to the Wolves.

Ellie Gleeson did not attempt a shot, but scored all eight of her points at the foul line and added six rebounds and six assists for the Wolves. As a team, Newberry was 29-for-41 at the free-throw stripe in the game while Tusculum went 11-for-19 from the line.

Newberry never trailed in the game, with the only tie at 2-2 coming in the opening minute. The Wolves took their largest lead of the first half at 32-20 on a free throw by Ellie Gleeson with 4:23 left, but the Pioneers closed the half by scoring 10 of the final 13 points to go to intermission trailing 35-30.

Brown led all players with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first half for Newberry, while Barksdale paced the Pioneers with seven points and five assists. Both teams shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, but Newberry was 12-for-17 at the free-throw line while Tusculum was 2-for-5 at the stripe.

Baxter scored eight points in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half as the Pioneers trailed 46-41 with 15:37 to go, but the Pioneers would go 3 1/2 minutes without a field goal as the Wolves used seven points from Lepaio to take a 56-43 lead with 12:22 remaining.

Two free throws by Creed gave the Wolves their largest lead of the game at 65-47 with 9:17 left, but the Pioneers were able to cut into the deficit in the closing minutes. Newberry's last field goal came with 5:04 remaining, as the Wolves missed their final six shots from the floor.

Tusculum finished the game with a 50-38 advantage in rebounds, led by nine apiece from April McCann and Jama Hammontree, who broke her previous career high of eight boards. Burleson and Kristen McMillion also contributed five rebounds, with McMillion adding seven points in 20 minutes off the bench.

The Pioneers will return to action Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Lincoln Memorial. Tusculum claimed a 66-47 victory over the Railsplitters 66-47 in the SAC opener back on Nov. 28.