Breaira Barksdale scored a career-high 21 points and added eight assists and three steals to lead Tusculum College to a 77-68 victory over Carson-Newman Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse in a South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball game.

April McCann and Jama Hammontree added 16 points apiece and Ashley Thurman contributed 13 points and six rebounds for the Pioneers (12-7, 6-5 SAC), who shot 49.1 percent (28-for-57) from the field and used a 12-0 second-half run to finish off the sweep of the season series from the Eagles (12-6, 6-5 SAC).

Nikki James paced the Eagles with 16 points and seven rebounds and Whitney Moody added 11 points off the bench, but the Eagles shot 42.4 percent (25-for-59) from the field and committed 21 turnovers, which the Pioneers turned into 23 points.

Barksdale, who scored in double figures for the sixth straight game, surpassed her personal best of 16 points set twice previously. Her eight assists matched her season and career high set against Charleston on Nov. 24.

McCann shot 7-for-9 from the field and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds for the Pioneers, while Thurman made five of her seven shots and all three of her free throws in just 19 minutes of action.

Hammontree connected on three three-pointers and tacked on five rebounds to go along with her 16 points, which were one shy of her season and career high.

The Pioneers scored the game's first six points, but the Eagles came back to take a 14-11 lead on a free throw by Courdne Miles with 12:07 left in the first half.

Tusculum led 33-28 following two free throws by McCann with 3:43 to go until halftime, only to see the Eagles storm back and take a 40-37 lead on a three-pointer by Jai Jai McLaughlin with 17 seconds to go in the half.

Hammontree sent the teams to the locker room tied at 40 as she drilled a three-pointer with six seconds left in the half. She scored 10 points for the Pioneers in the first half, while McCann and James led their respective teams with 12 points each.

Tusculum shot a strong 53.3 percent (16-for-30) from the field in the first half, while Carson-Newman hit just 43.8 percent (14-for-32) of its field goal attempts. The Eagles did have a commanding 22-12 rebounding edge in the half, including 10 offensive boards.

Carson-Newman built its lead to 45-42 following a three-pointer by Moody with 18:06 to go, but the Pioneers answered with 12 consecutive points over the next 2 1/2 minutes to jump out to a 54-45 lead with 15:40 to go.

The Eagles would get no closer than four points the rest of the way as the Pioneers went 6-for-7 from the foul line in the final minute. As a team, Tusculum was 15-for-18 (83.3 percent) from the stripe including 10-for-12 in the second half.

Miles finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes for Carson-Newman, while McLaughlin had five points, six rebounds and five assists. The Eagle bench outscored the Pioneer reserves by a 24-8 margin, led by Moody's 11.

Tusculum will look for its third straight win Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when it hosts Wingate at Pioneer Arena. The game will be the annual "Play 4Kay Game" with half of all gate proceeds donated to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund for the support of breast cancer awareness.