GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Kasey Johnson scored a season-high 24 points and Tusculum College used a third-quarter surge to defeat Coker College 62-44 in a key South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball game at Pioneer Arena Saturday afternoon.
Johnson also had seven rebounds and four assists while the Pioneer defense held the Cobras to 20.7 percent shooting in the second half to move a game ahead of Coker for eighth place in the SAC standings with four games left in the regular season. The Pioneers outscored the Cobras 36-19 in the second half, including a 23-8 margin in the decisive third period.
Coker (9-15, 8-10 SAC) failed to put any players in double figures and shot 27.1 percent (16-for-59) from the field in the game, including 2-for-22 from three-point range. Tusculum (11-10, 9-9 SAC) hit 40 percent from the field (20-for-50) and went 19-for-25 from the foul line while converting 22 Coker turnovers into 20 points.
Johnson, whose previous season and career high was 22 points against Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 6, shot 8-for-16 from the field and 8-for-11 from the foul line. Fellow freshman Sydney Wilson added 11 points and six assists while Maelyn Head had 11 points and a career-high five steals for the Pioneers, who used a 13-0 run early in the third quarter to turn a two-point deficit into an 11-point lead.
Jazz Green led the Cobras with nine points, eight rebounds and three assists while Terrika Foster had eight points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in the fourth period. The Cobras forced the Pioneers into 20 turnovers, but were able to convert them into only six points.
Tusculum took the lead on the game's opening possession on a basket by Wilson, and went on to take an 8-0 lead following a layup by Kristen McMillion with 6:20 left in the first period. The Pioneers took their largest lead of the quarter at 18-9 on a three-pointer by Head just before the buzzer, but Coker chipped away in the second quarter and tied the contest at 23-23 on a three-point play by Foster with 2:12 left in the first half.
Two free throws by Kendra Lambert gave the Cobras their first lead of the game at 25-24 with 39 seconds to play in the half, but a steal and layup by Wilson in the closing seconds pushed the Pioneers back on top 26-25 at intermission. Johnson led the Pioneers with seven points in the first half while Foster and Lambert had five points apiece for the Cobras.
Green converted a three-point play early in the third quarter to give Coker a 28-26 lead, but they would not score again for four minutes as the Pioneers went on a 13-0 run. Wilson scored six points during the spurt while Johnson had five as the Pioneers went on top 39-28 with 5:21 remaining in the third period. A Head three-pointer would extend the Pioneer lead to 10 at 42-32, part of a 10-3 run to close the quarter. Johnson scored six points during the surge, which left the Pioneers with a 49-33 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
Tusculum's lead never dipped below 13 points in the fourth period, with Johnson scoring six of the Pioneers' 13 points in the quarter. In the second half, Johnson had 17 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and 7-for-9 from the foul line for the Pioneers, as Tusculum shot 78.9 percent (15-for-19) from the stripe as a team in the half.
Shynese Whitener, who entered the game as the conference's leading scorer at 18.9 points per contest, was limited to a season-low five points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field. However, Whitener contributed a team-high nine rebounds along with five assists and two steals while playing all 40 minutes for Tusculum.
McMillion finished with six points, eight rebounds and a pair of steals for the Pioneers, while Jasmine Queen came off the bench to add five points, seven rebounds and a steal in 17 minutes of action. Head drilled three three-pointers in the game for the Pioneers, giving her a team-best 17 three-pointers for the season despite playing in just 11 of the Pioneers' 21 games.
Tusculum and Coker finished the game even on the boards with 41 rebounds apiece. Coker had 16 offensive rebounds in the game, but were able to turn them into just 10 second-chance points.
The Pioneers are on the road Wednesday night as they travel down U.S. Highway 11-E to face Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City. The Eagles came to Greeneville on Jan. 6 and defeated the Pioneers by a 68-47 score. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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