WISE, Va. --- The UVa-Wise women's basketball team connected on eight 3-pointers and held off a furious fourth quarter rally as the Cavaliers defeated Tusculum College 74-66 Saturday night at the Prior Center.
The Cavaliers improve to 3-1 on the season, while handing the Pioneers (3-1) their first loss of the young campaign.
UVa-Wise's Taylor Sandidge finished with 20 points and shot 8-of-11 from the free throw line. Kayla Carey and Blair Harding posted 14 points each, while Makenzie Cluesman tallied 10 points in the victory.
Tusculum senior Shynese Whitener led all scorers with 26 points, while also posting six rebounds, six assists and five steals. Freshman Sydney Wilson added 15 points, while junior Jasmine Queen posted 13 points and was near perfect on the night shooting 4-of-5 from the field and 5-of-5 at the free throw line.
Tusculum jumped out to a 15-8 lead in the first quarter, but the Cavaliers closed out the frame with a 7-1 run to trail 16-15 after the first period.
It was all UVa-Wise in the second and third quarters as the Cavaliers out-scored the Pioneers by a combined 41-19 during that span to take a commanding 56-35 lead after 30 minutes of play.
Tusculum would continue to battle and opened final frame on a 17-5 run, including 10 straight points as the Pioneers whittled the 21-point deficit to single digits at 61-52 with 4:54 left in regulation. Queen got the run started with a three-point play, while Wilson added a three-point play of her own and freshman Callie Patterson drilled a three-pointer.
The Cavaliers answered with a pair of Sandidge layups to extend the lead out to 65-52 with 2:27. But a Whitener three-pointers and a Wilson layup set up by a Whitener steal brought the Pioneers to within eight (65-57) with 1:57 remaining.
Tusculum would cut the UVa-Wise lead to six points on three occasions in the final minute, but the Cavaliers would go 9-of-12 from free throw line down the stretch, including seven in a row to end the game to preserve the victory.
The Pioneers scored a season-high 31 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Tusculum returns to action next Saturday as they travel to Catawba College for a South Atlantic Conference game at Goodman Gym. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.
- TC -
