Posted: Jan 24, 2015
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College
women's basketball team held Coker College scoreless for the first
seven and a half minutes of the second half and held off a late
rally by the Cobras in its 75-66 victory on Saturday afternoon in
Greeneville. Four Pioneers scored in double figures, led by 18
points from junior guard Shynese Whitener.
Tusculum improves to 4-11 overall and 4-8 in the South
Atlantic Conference and snaps a four-game winless streak. Coker
falls to 7-11 overall and 3-9 in the SAC after being held to just
29.7 percent shooting from the field (22-74), a season-low for the
Pioneer defense.
Sophomore guard Maelyn Cutshaw tallied 16 points on 6-of-14
shooting from the field while senior guard Blakeley Burleson added
13 points with a pair of three-pointers and a perfect five-of-five
shooting at the line. Senior forward Rainey Story finished with 12
points off the bench and junior forward Kristen McMillion had a
game-high 15 rebounds while nearly recording a double-double with
eight points.
After holding a 35-29 lead at halftime, the Pioneers opened
the second half on an 11-0 run and held a 46-29 lead with 13:02 to
play in the game. During the Cobras' long scoreless drought, they
missed 12 field goals and the Pioneers forced five of their 15
turnovers for the contest.
However, later in the half Coker cut a 17-point deficit to
just five after Tanesha Stenson's three pointer capped a 16-4 run
that put Tusculum's lead at just 54-49 with 7:23 remaining. A pair
of free throws by the Cobras' Hailey Yohn made the score 57-51 with
five and a half minutes to play, but the Pioneers answered with an
8-0 spurt that gave them a 65-51 advantage with just under four
minutes to play.
TC finished the game shooting a season-high 88.5 percent from
the free throw stripe (23-26) and Whitener went a perfect 6-for-6
from the line in the game's final three minutes to preserve the
Pioneers' nine-point victory.
Stenson led the Cobras with 15 points while Kiara Shoats added
12. Heidrun Kristmundsdottir added eight points off the bench while
Stenson and Kelley Godbout pulled down five rebounds each.
Coker held its largest lead of the game at 10-5 six minutes
into the contest, but Cutshaw and Burleson answered with
back-to-back three pointers to give TC an 11-10 lead with 13:31 to
play before the half. Later in the opening frame, Shoats and
Lakeria Crowder cut a seven-point Pioneer lead to just one with
back-to-back triples, making the score 29-28 with 3:32 to play
before the break.
Sophomore forward Jessica Hairston answered for TC with a
layup to push the lead back to three, but Stenson hit one-of-two
free throws to make the Pioneer advantage 31-29 with 1:26 remaining
in the half. Whitener gave Tusculum a big boost before the break
with two layups in the final minute of the half to give TC a 35-29
lead in the locker room.
The Pioneers shot 40.7 percent from the field (24-59) and 40
percent from behind the arc (4-10) while the Cobras hit 10 of their
31 three point attempts (32.3%). TC out-rebounded Coker 50-41,
out-scored the Cobras in the paint 30-18, and held an18-10
advantage in fast-break points.
Tusculum will be back in action on Wednesday night (Jan. 28)
when it welcomes Mars Hill to Pioneer Arena for a 6 p.m.
tipoff.