GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University raced to a 20-point halftime lead and never looked back as the Pioneers routed Lenoir-Rhyne University 78-51 in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
The Pioneers (7-12, 5-10 SAC) set season highs for points, field goals made (29), field goal percentage (.483), three-pointers made (12), three-point percentage (.480), assists (22), fewest turnovers (8) and steals (13). Jalia Arnwine and Mya Belton each finished with season highs in scoring, as Arnwine netted 24 and Belton contributed 19, while Brianna Dixon matched her season best with 21 points.
Tusculum led 45-25 at halftime and did not lead by any fewer than 19 points in the second half to finish the season sweep of the Bears (6-11, 5-10 SAC), who turned the ball over 16 times, shot 39.5 percent (17-for-43) from the field and were outrebounded 34-26 by the Pioneers. The win was the 10th consecutive for Tusculum over Lenoir-Rhyne and their fifth in a row over the Bears at Pioneer Arena.
Brandi Hudson led Lenoir-Rhyne with 24 points, but she was the only player to reach double figures for the Bears in the loss. Emily Harman added seven points and seven rebounds and Maddie Dillinger had seven points, but the Bears gave up 20 points to the Pioneers off their 16 turnovers.
Arnwine's 24 points came on 9-for-14 shooting, including three three-pointers, while Dixon hit three threes of her own and added four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Belton was 8-for-13 from the field and also sank a trio of three-pointers, while grabbing seven rebounds and making three steals.
Off the bench, Chloe Warrington canned a pair of three-pointers and finished with six points for the Pioneers while Lexi Patty had eight points and three rebounds in 16 minutes. Alyssa Walker was scoreless in 28 minutes, but grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and dished out three assists, and Sophie Henry matched Dixon for the team lead with five assists against one turnover in 35 minutes of playing time.
Tusculum scored the first points of the game on a jumper by Dixon on the opening possession, but Lenoir-Rhyne ran off six straight points on three layups from Hudson to go up 6-2 with 7:33 left in the first quarter. The game would be tied at 8-8 following a Harman layup with 6:28 remaining, and the Bears would lead for the final time at 12-11 following two free throws by Hudson with 4:22 remaining. Tusculum would score the final seven points of the period to go up 18-12, as the Bears would close the quarter going 0-for-3 from the field with four turnovers.
The Pioneer run would extend to 11 in a row in the second quarter as Dixon sank a pair of free throws and Belton hit a layup to send Tusculum in front 22-12 with 7:43 left in the quarter. After a three from Harman with 6:57 left in the half to bring the Bears within 25-17, the Pioneers would not allow a field goal for 6 1/2 minutes as Lenoir-Rhyne turned the ball over six times in that span. Three-pointers from Arnwine and Warrington would stretch the Tusculum lead to 37-19 with 4:20 left in the half, and the Pioneers took their largest lead of the half at 42-21 on another Warrington three with 1:54 to play. A layup by Hudson would break the Bears' drought with 22 seconds left, but Belton would sink a three with five seconds to go to send Tusculum to the locker room with a 45-25 advantage.
Belton led all players with 14 points in the opening half, Arnwine added 13 and Dixon 10 as Tusculum shot an even 50 percent (17-for-34) from the field and forced the Bears into 14 turnovers. Hudson led Lenoir-Rhyne with 12 points in the first half on 4-for-6 shooting, but the rest of the team was 4-for-11 from the floor in the half. Tusculum has led at the half in each of its last nine games, the longest streak for the Pioneers since leading at halftime in 10 consecutive games during the 2010-11 season.
The Tusculum lead remained steady for most of the third quarter, as the Pioneers led by between 19 and 25 points the entire period. Patty capped the quarter by collecting a pass from Arnwine in the corner and sinking a three-pointer as time expired to send the Pioneers to the fourth with a 62-40 lead. The fourth quarter was much of the same, with the Pioneers leading by no fewer than 21 points and eventually building to its largest lead at 78-49 following back-to-back threes from Dixon and Arnwine in the final two minutes.
Tusculum went 8-for-10 from the foul line as a team, the fifth time in the last seven games that the Pioneers shot 80 percent or better at the stripe. The Pioneers' previous season high for three-pointers made was 10, set three times. Tusculum had 11 offensive rebounds in the game, the sixth straight contest that Pioneers have had double figures on the offensive glass and the 13th time in 19 games this season.
With the win, Tusculum moved into a three-way tie for ninth place in the SAC standings with Queens and Lenoir-Rhyne at 5-10, a half-game behind Newberry and UVA Wise who are tied for seventh place at 6-10 in the league. After playing five of six games at home during January, the Pioneers will be away from home for six of their final nine contests.
The Pioneers will play their next three games on the road, starting Wednesday, Feb. 2 at Carson-Newman. The Eagles (17-4, 14-3 SAC) trailed by eight after one quarter to Newberry on Saturday, but held the Wolves scoreless in the second period en route to a 78-57 victory. Carson-Newman, which is in third place in the SAC behind Wingate and Catawba, beat Tusculum 94-68 at Pioneer Arena in the first meeting of the season on Nov. 17.
