BELMONT, N.C. --- Keyanna Spivey made two foul shots with 5.2 seconds left to lift nationally-ranked Belmont Abbey College to a 49-48 victory over Tusculum University in the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas Women's Basketball Challenge Friday evening at the Wheeler Center.
Spivey finished with game highs of 19 points and 16 rebounds for the defending Southeast Region champion Crusaders (1-0), who began the season ranked 25th in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division II poll and 13th in the D2SIDA national poll. Jo Snow added 17 points for Belmont Abbey, which shot just 28.6 percent (16-for-56) from the field as a team but outrebounded Tusculum by a 46-31 margin, including 16 offensive rebounds.
Chloe Warrington led Tusculum with 12 points and seven rebounds in her Pioneer debut, with Mya Belton adding 11 points and nine boards. The Pioneers shot slightly better than the Crusaders from the field, hitting 31.4 percent (16-for-51) but going just 7-for-26 from three-point range. Jordan Rogers added nine points off the bench for Tusculum, while Jalia Arnwine hit just 3-for-12 from the field and ended the game with seven points and six boards.
The Pioneers, who lost to the Crusaders 74-59 in the Southeast Region semifinals in the final game of the 2020-21 season, trailed nearly the entire game except for a brief 19-18 lead in the second quarter. Tusculum went up 48-45 on a three-pointer by Rogers with 1:10 left, and regained possession after a miss by Snow with 54 seconds left. Warrington missed on a three-pointer with 29 seconds to go, and Spivey, who shot 6-for-21 from the field in the game, responded with a layup with 14.9 seconds left to pull the Crusaders within 48-47.
Tusculum tried to run out the clock, but Rogers slipped to the floor and was tied up by Snow, which gave Belmont Abbey the ball back on alternating possession with 7.3 left. Off the inbounds, Spivey was fouled at the rim by Warrington and sank both free throws to put the Crusaders back on top with 5.2 seconds remaining. Tusculum had a final inbounds pass from midcourt with 3.5 seconds left, but was unable to get off a shot before time expired.
Both teams struggled from the outset, with Tusculum missing its first four shots and Belmont Abbey recording two turnovers and a missed shot on its first three possessions. Spivey opened the scoring with a three-point play with 8:31 left in the first quarter, and Arnwine got Tusculum's first points of the year with 7:38 to go in the opening period. Belmont Abbey closed the quarter with a 10-3 run as a three-pointer by Warrington was the only basket for Tusculum in the final five minutes of the period. The Pioneers shot 3-for-15 from the field in the opening 10 minutes and trailed the Crusaders 16-7 after one quarter.
The Pioneers got off to a much faster start in the second quarter, as back-to-back baskets from Belton cut the Crusader lead to 16-12. Another three-pointer from Belton brought Tusculum within a point at 18-17 with 6:18 to go, and two free throws on the next trip gave Tusculum its lone lead of the first half at 19-18 with 5:42 remaining. Tusculum would then go scoreless for nearly four minutes until a three-pointer from Warrington with 1:50 left in the first half helped cut the Belmont Abbey lead to 25-22 at intermission.
Belton led Tusculum in the first half, with all 10 of her points coming in a span of four minutes early in the second quarter. Warrington added eight points in the first half for the Pioneers, who shot 29.6 percent (8-for-27) from the field and 4-for-12 from three-point range in the opening half. Snow led all players with 11 points in the opening half for Belmont Abbey, which was 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) from the field but shot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc, including a 3-for-4 effort from Snow.
Tusculum missed its first five field goal and three free throw attempts of the third quarter until Belton made a foul shot with 6:43 left to bring the Pioneers within 28-23. A three-pointer from Elle Hutchinson on Tusculum's next trip brought the Pioneers to 28-26, but a three-pointer by Sydni Clawges gave the Crusaders a 34-28 lead with 5:21 to go in the quarter. A layup from freshman Myajae Eubanks was the final field goal of the quarter for either team as Belmont Abbey took a 36-32 lead into the fourth. Tusculum was just 2-for-12 from the field and 1-for-9 from long range in the third, while Belmont Abbey shot 3-for-15 overall and 1-for-5 on threes in the quarter.
The Pioneers cut the margin to two points on five occasions in the fourth quarter, but the Crusaders were able to keep the Pioneers at bay despite not leading by any larger than five points. A three-pointer by Arnwine cut the Belmont Abbey lead to 39-37 with 7:00 left, but two baskets by Spivey were able to offset a basket from Arnwine and two free throws by Rogers, leaving the Crusaders up 43-41 with 5:14 to play. A bucket by Snow extended the Belmont Abbey lead to 45-41 with 2:43 left, but a layup from Eubanks and a putback by Warrington tied the game at 45-45 with 1:53 left. Tusculum got the ball back after a turnover, and took its biggest lead at 48-45 on Rogers' three-pointer with 1:10 left.
Eubanks played 22 minutes off the bench in her collegiate debut and finished with six points and three rebounds, along with a blocked shot. Junior Sophie Henry made her Tusculum debut as the starting point guard and had three assists and two steals but missed her only shot attempt in 19 minutes of playing time. Rogers was 4-for-4 at the foul line for the Pioneers, who were 9-for-12 from the stripe in the game.
Kelli Thomas also reached double figures in rebounds for the Crusaders, with 12 boards in 24 minutes. Off the bench, Clawges hit two three-pointers and finished with six points and three rebounds, while Sydni Addison had five points and three boards in 31 minutes. The Crusaders went 11-for-16 at the foul line and had 18 turnovers, which the Pioneers turned into 10 points. The Tusculum bench outscored the Belmont Abbey bench by a 30-11 margin.
The Pioneers will conclude play at the SAC/CC Challenge on Saturday with a 3 p.m. tipoff against North Greenville.
