Nequoiah Anderson converted the go-ahead three-point play with 28 seconds left as Tusculum College scored the final eight points in a stunning 65-62 upset of 24th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne University in South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.

Anderson finished with 20 points and Shynese Whitener scored 19 for the Pioneers (8-16, 8-12 SAC), who defeated the Bears for the ninth straight time at Pioneer Arena and moved within one game of Coker for the eighth and final playoff spot in the SAC standings with two games left in the season. The Pioneers, who opened the season 0-9 and were 1-10 in the conference in mid-January, host the Cobras in the season finale next Saturday afternoon.

Jazmine Charles led the Bears (20-5, 15-5 SAC) with 21 points, but the top-ranked team in the Southeast Region saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end despite outshooting the Pioneers 40 percent to 33 percent, outscoring the Pioneers 34-18 in the paint and holding the edge in bench points by a 19-1 margin. Despite the loss, the Bears remain tied atop the SAC standings with Wingate heading into the final week of the regular season after the Bulldogs lost 59-56 to Lincoln Memorial.

Tusculum trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half before taking their only lead of the game on Anderson's free throw. Anderson, who also hit the game-winning shot in the Pioneers' 65-64 win over Queens on Feb. 1, has scored 20 or more points in three straight games and six times in the last eight games. She was a perfect 9-for-9 at the foul line and hit 5-for-11 fro the field while playing all 40 minutes for the third time in six contests.

Whitener also played all 40 minutes and had four rebounds and three assists to go along with her 19 points. She shot 7-for-16 from the field and was 5-for-6 from the line, helping the Pioneers shoot 29-for-36 from the line (80.6 percent), including 23-for-27 in the second half alone.

Kristen McMillion, the SAC rebounding leader at 11.7 per game, posted her seventh double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. McMillion, who had 21 and 23 rebounds in her last two games, reached double figures on the boards for the 17th time this season and the 11th time in the last 12 games. McMillion had a career day at the line for the Pioneers, going 10-for-12 at the stripe.

Tusculum trailed 59-51 following a layup by Charles with 3:30 to go, but a free throw by Blakeley Burleson and a three-pointer fro Anderson cut the margin to 59-55 with 2:04 left. Jordan Hiatt sank two free throws with 1:43 remaining to restore a six-point lead for the Bears, but Whitener responded with a basket with 1:36 left to make it a four-point game.

Charles scored what would be the final point of the game on a free throw with 1:28 remaining to push the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 62-57, but a clutch three-pointer from Maelyn Cutshaw made it a one-possession game at 62-60 with 1:18 left. Charles missed a three-pointer with just under a minute left to give the Pioneers a chance to tie or take the lead, and Anderson made the most of it as she was fouled on the tying basket and made the go-ahead foul shot.

Trailing for the first time all day, the Bears could not convert a Hiatt layup with 11 seconds left, and McMillion made two free throws with nine seconds left for 65-62 lead. Krystal Patton went for the tying three-pointer as time ran down, but misfired and Burleson collected the rebound as time expired.

Lenoir-Rhyne enjoyed its largest lead of the afternoon at 35-22 following a basket by Charles with 17:18 remaining. From there, the Pioneers went on a 15-4 run to cut the deficit to 39-37 on two free throws by McMillion with 11:30 left. A three-point play from the Bears' Danielle Bongiorno pushed the L-R lead back to 45-37 with 9:09 to go, and the margin fluctuated between four and eight points until the decisive push from the Pioneers in the final 90 seconds.

Other than a brief 2-2 tie in the opening 2 1/2 minutes, Lenoir-Rhyne held the lead throughout the first half by as many as nine points before settling for a 25-20 edge at the break. Tusculum shot a dismal 25 percent (7-for-28) from the field in the first half, missing all seven of its three-point attempts. Whitener led the Pioneers with eight points in the opening 20 minutes while Patton paced the Bears with seven points and five rebounds.

Tusculum finished the game with a slim 37-36 rebounding advantage, with Burleson grabbing eight boards in support of McMillion's game-high 10. The Bears were paced on the glass by Patton, who had seven rebounds, and Nneka Awuruonye, who pulled six boards to go along with 10 points in 23 minutes of action.

The Pioneers will open the final week of the regular season Wednesday night when they travel to Anderson to battle the Trojans. Anderson won the first meeting between the teams by a 75-67 score at Pioneer Arena on Feb. 5, just one of two losses for Tusculum in its last nine games.