CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- Maddie Sutton scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Tusculum University rolled to an 85-54 victory over Queens University of Charlotte in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action Monday night at Curry Arena.
Four players reached double figures for the Pioneers (12-2, 12-2 SAC), who defeated the Royals (1-11, 1-10 SAC) for the seventh straight meeting by shooting a season-best 47.6 percent (30-for-63) from the field, hitting 11 three-pointers and committing just nine turnovers while scoring 26 points off 17 Queens miscues. Tusculum entered the game ranked 22nd in the WBCA Division II Top 25 and 13th in the D2SIDA national media poll.
Sutton, whose previous career high was 19 points at Newberry on Dec. 7, 2019, went 10-for-15 from the field and 12-for-14 from the foul line. Her 16 rebounds gave her an eighth consecutive double-double and Division II-leading 12th of the season. She scored seven points in the first quarter, added 11 in the second and 10 in the third before sitting out the final five minutes after scoring four points in the fourth, but not before becoming the first Pioneer to score 30 in a game since Kasey Johnson netted 34 at Lenoir-Rhyne on Jan. 29 of last season.
Deidre Cheremond added 13 points -- all in the fourth quarter -- on 6-for-7 shooting in 13 minutes off the Tusculum bench, and Jalia Arnwine and Mya Belton each hit three from three-point range and finished with 10 points apiece. Marta Rodrigues contributed a team-high eight assists, with Sutton and Aliyah Miller adding four helpers apiece.
Caitlyn Moore and Kelsey Leedle shared the scoring lead for the Royals with 13 points apiece, with Tia McMillian adding nine points and Amari Davis eight points and a team-high eight rebounds. Queens shot 30.4 percent (17-for-56) from the field but connected on nine three-pointers in the game, with three each from McMillian and Leedle.
The victory improved Tusculum's road record to 7-0 this season, and the Pioneers are 19-5 in SAC road games since Feb. 2, 2019. The Pioneers have won nine consecutive games away from Pioneer Arena dating to last year's SAC Championship tournament, their longest streak of victories on the road since the 1995-96 season.
Tusculum jumped to a 9-0 lead as Belton and Brianna Dixon hit early three-pointers for the Pioneers. Queens missed its first five shots before a Deng basket cut the Tusculum lead to 9-2 with 6:06 left in the first quarter. The Pioneers led 14-5 following two foul shots from Sutton with 3:42 remaining in the period, but five straight from Moore trimmed the Tusculum lead to 14-10 with 1:00 left. Aliyah Miller canned a three-pointer with 42 seconds left as the Pioneers carried a 17-11 lead into the second quarter.
Queens opened the second quarter with five straight points to cut the Tusculum deficit to 17-16 less than 90 seconds into the second quarter, but Tusculum caught fire as it outscored the Royals 19-3 over a span of six minutes to go ahead 36-19 with 2:55 left in the first half. Sutton and Belton had seven points apiece during the run, which helped propel the Pioneers to a 40-25 lead at halftime.
Sutton led all players with 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting along with 11 rebounds in the first half, as the Pioneers shot 44.8 percent (13-for-29) from the field and 6-for-11 from three-point range. Belton also reached double figures in the opening half, collecting 10 points on 3-for-6 from long range, while Rodrigues had six assists. Queens received a team-high nine points from Moore and six rebounds from Davis, but went 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) from the field and turned the ball over seven times.
Sutton set a new career high at 21 points on a layup with 8:24 left in the third quarter, and the Pioneers pulled away as Arnwine and Rodrigues canned back-to-back three-pointers to give Tusculum a 58-33 lead with 2:39 remaining in the quarter. Tusculum carried a 61-36 lead into the fourth quarter as Queens hit just one field goal in the final four minutes of the period.
In the fourth, Sutton scored the first four points for the Pioneers before Cheremond went to work. The junior, who lit up the scoreboard for 15 points in 14 minutes against Coker on Jan. 16, made her first two shots from the field beofre misfiring, then connected on her final four attempts from the field. Cheremond is now shooting a sizzling 79.2 percent (19-for-24) from the floor this season, and has hit eight of her last nine shots over her last three games.
Off the bench, Miller had five points, three rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes for the Pioneers, while Jordan Rogers added a fourth-quarter three-pointer and a pair of rebounds. Dixon finished with seven points on 3-for-9 shooting, and had three rebounds in 32 minutes.
Queens, which used just seven players, got a pair of three-pointers and six points in 15 minutes off the bench from Andrea Shire. Christina Deng went 1-for-6 from the field and had five points, five rebounds and two blocked shots, while Lauren Fields was tasked with attempting to slow down Sutton but fouled out after 18 scoreless minutes.
Tusculum will travel to Mars Hill to face the Lions on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Pioneers have won seven straight from the Lions by an average margin of 37.3 points, including a 69-46 win at Pioneer Arena on Jan. 13.
