GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Wingate University shot 56.7 percent and put five players in double figures on its way to an 88-71 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
Emily Hege led the Bulldogs (15-8, 10-5 SAC) with a game-high 23 points along with six rebounds and six assists, shooting 10-for-15 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range. The Bulldogs sank 10 three-pointers and scored 25 points off 17 Tusculum turnovers in the game.
Carleigh Wilson scored a career-high 21 points and had seven rebounds and five assists for the Pioneers (3-18, 1-14 SAC), while Faith Silva made five three-pointers and had 15 points. Delana DeBusk also had a career high for the Pioneers with 11 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists.
Wingate shot 14-for-20 from the field in the first quarter to build a 31-19 lead, and led by as many as 26 points in the third quarter. The Bulldogs, who entered the game leading Division II in both three-point shooting (41.0 percent) and free-throw shooting (81.2 percent), were 10-for-27 (37.0 percent) from beyond the arc and just 2-for-4 from the line as a team.
Wilson was 7-for-11 from the field, 3-for-5 on three-pointers and 4-for-4 at the foul line to easily surpass her previous high of 15 points set Dec. 2 against Anderson. Silva's five three-pointers mark the eighth time this season she has made at least four threes in a game. For DeBusk, the 11 points broke her career high of nine points set Nov. 17 at North Georgia, while her five rebounds also tied a career high.
Two three-pointers from Silva in the first two minutes helped the Pioneers to an early 6-4 lead, but Wingate scored seven in a row to go up 11-6 on a Hege steal and layup with 7:13 left in the opening quarter. Two more threes from Silva brought the Pioneers within 13-12 with 6:13 to go, but the Bulldogs went up 26-15 on a layup by Laney Beale with 2:22 to go and extended their lead to 31-19 after one quarter.
Tusculum pulled back within 34-26 on a jumper by Wilson with 8:06 left in the first half, but Wingate responded with a 12-0 run to go ahead 46-26 on a steal and layup by Jaia Wilson with 3:01 remaining. Tusculum went more than six minutes without a basket until a layup by Maddison Zugna with 1:44 left in the half, and a late bucket in the final seconds from Zugna left Wingate with a 52-31 lead at intermission.
Hege led the Bulldogs with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting in the first half, while Wilson had 12 points and Anna Baraldi added 11 on 3-for-4 from three-point range. Wingate shot 59 percent (23-for-39) from the field in the first half and was 6-for-15 from deep as a team. Silva led the Pioneers with 15 points in the first half, going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc, with five points from Zugna. Tusculum was 12-for-24 (50 percent) from the fieldl in the first half, but turned the ball over 12 times.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs went on a 9-0 run to go ahead 66-40 on a putback by Lia Anderson with 4:28 left. Wilson scored 14 points in the third quarter for the Pioneers, hitting 4-for-5 from the field with two three-pointers and going 4-for-4 from the line as Tusculum trailed 73-53 heading to the fourth.
The Pioneers cut a 26-point Wingate lead in half over a four-minute span of the fourth quarter, led by seven points from DeBusk and three-pointers from Jenna Kallenberg and Wilson as the Pioneers moved within 79-66 with 4:38 to play. However, Hege and Hannah Clark hit three-pointers in the final four minutes while the Pioneers' only field goal in that span was a three-pointer from Artasia Cole with just over a minute remaining.
Clark finished with 11 points, five rebounds and six assists along with three steals for the Bulldogs, while Trinity Breedlove collected 10 points in 18 minutes. Beale, who had a triple-double in the first meeting between the teams on Jan. 6, piled up eight points, a game-high 10 rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes for Wingate.
Zugna finished with seven points and three rebounds off the bench for the Pioneers, while Ni'Kiah Chesterfield had seven points and three rebounds. Kallenberg contributed five points and four rebounds in a career-high 30 minutes.
The Pioneers will return to the road to face Carson-Newman on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 5:30 p.m. The Eagles (16-7, 10-5 SAC), who beat the Pioneers 96-57 in Greeneville on Dec. 13, remained tied with Wingate for third place in the SAC with a 64-57 win over Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday. Carson-Newman is 12-0 at home this season.
