GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- April Rummery-Lamb scored 25 points and added nine rebounds to lift Newberry College to an 87-77 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
Four players reached double figures for the Wolves (7-14, 5-8 SAC), who shot 48.4 percent from the field (30-for-62) and outrebounded the Pioneers by a 39-28 margin. Jess Tomkins added 12 points and seven rebounds and Ella Pearson and Caylin Moment scored 11 points apiece off the bench for Newberry.
Ni'Kiah Chesterfield scored a career-high 27 points for the Pioneers (3-16, 1-12 SAC) with 18 points from Faith Silva and 13 points from Carleigh Wilson. Tusculum trailed by as many as 22 points in the third quarter before trimming the deficit to eight in the final minute.
Rummery-Lamb played just 22 minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter, but still managed to go 12-for-16 from the field for the Wolves. Newberry shot 21-for-24 from the foul line in the game, and scored their final 11 points from the stripe.
Chesterfield easily surpassed her previous career high of 19 points set on Jan. 18 against Emory & Henry by going 10-for-16 from the field and 7-for-7 from the foul line in 31 minutes. Silva was 6-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-7 at the stripe for her 18 points, while Wilson just missed her season high of 15 points after going 5-for-10 from the floor and 3-for-5 on foul shots.
Tusculum shot 61 percent (20-for-33) from the field in the second half, but just 1-for-8 from three-point range in the second half and 4-for-21 for the game. Overall, the Pioneers shot 45.9 percent (28-for-61) from the field and 17-for-22 at the free-throw line.
Newberry jumped to an early 11-3 lead following a three-pointer from Payton Cronen with 5:12 left in the first quarter, and another 11-3 run gave the Wolves a 28-13 lead with 55 seconds to go in the period. Chesterfield sank two fouls shots with 21 seconds left to cut the Newberry advantage to 28-15 after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Newberry stretched its lead to 41-25 on a three-pointer from Chloe Andrew with 3:36 to go. Moment drilled a three-pointer in the final minute of the half to put the Wolves up 48-27, but Silva sank two free throws in the final 10 seconds to leave Newberry with a 48-29 lead at intermission.
Rummery-Lamb led all players with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting in the first half, along with a game-high six rebounds. Moment added nine points and Tomkins eight as the Wolves shot 45.0 percent (18-for-40) from the field and 8-for-8 at the foul line. Chesterfield paced the Pioneers with 11 points and Silva added 10, but the Pioneers were just 28.6 percent (8-for-28) from the field as a team and committed 13 turnovers which led to 16 points for Newberry.
Newberry took its largest lead of the game at 54-32 on a layup by Tomkins with 7:38 left in the third quarter, but Tusculum answered with an 10-2 spurt that including eight straight from Chesterfield which cut the Wolves' lead to 56-42 with 3:47 to go in the period. The Wolves received seven points from Pearson in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter to carry a 67-48 lead into the final frame.
The Pioneers trailed 74-58 following a basket from Rummery-Lamb with 6:07 to go, but a three-pointer from Delana DeBusk and a foul shot from Silva cut the deficit to 74-62 with 5:11 remaining. After a layup from Rummery-Lamb with 3:14 to go gave the Wolves a 76-62 lead, the Pioneers got a layup from Maddison Zugna and a three-point play from Silva to move back within 76-67 with 1:27 to play. Tusculum would get as close as 79-71 on a jumper by DeBusk with 48 seconds left, but Newberry went 8-for-8 from the line in the final 45 seconds.
DeBusk finished with seven points on 3-for-6 shooting and had a season-high five assists in 19 minutes off the bench for the Pioneers. Zugna added a pair of field goals for four points in six minutes, while Jenna Kallenberg collected five points and two rebounds in 26 minutes.
Deshona Gaither had five points, four rebounds, four assists and six steals for the Wolves, while Cronen contributed seven points, five rebounds and five assists off the bench in 24 minutes.
Tusculum will return to the road to visit UVA Wise on Wednesday, Feb. 7 for the first of two meetings this month with the Cavaliers. UVA Wise lost 80-64 at Mars Hill on Saturday to drop to 9-12 overall and 5-8 in the SAC, a half-game behind Mars Hill and Coker for seventh place in the league standings.
