GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Ashli Oliver poured in 21 points on seven 3-pointers to lead the Tusculum College Women's basketball team to a 73-59 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Lincoln Memorial University Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
Tusculum (12-9, 4-6 SAC) ends a six-game losing streak, while sweeping the season series over the Lady Railsplitters (10-11, 2-8 SAC), who are in their first year competing in the SAC.
Oliver shot 7-for-15 from the floor, all from beyond the three-point line, while also grabbing a career-high eight rebounds. Chassity Martin added 20 points, while Diana Neves finished with nine points. Tusculum made 13-of-35 of its three-point attempts and shot 41.8 percent from the floor.
LMU's Andi Winney and Madeline Richards each tallied 14 points, while Sidney Johnson was a perfect 8-for-8 as the free throw line for her eight markers on the afternoon.
Tusculum scored the first 13 points of the contest, including three straight treys by Oliver in the opening 3:46 of the game. TC upped its advantage to 15 (17-2) after a steal and a lay-up by Carlie Lakey as she finished with four points and six rebounds.
LMU trimmed the deficit back to single-digits at 19-10 following as Sarah Harrison and Johnson each made a pair of free throws. Tusculum would take its biggest lead of the day at 31-15 after Emily French and Martin made consecutive three-pointers. LMU went on an 8-0 run, capped off by a three-pointer by Richards at the 3:24 mark to trail by eight (32-24), and Winney cut the deficit down to six (35-29) after she made one of two free throws.
Tusculum closed out the half with a pair of treys, including Neves three-pointer at the buzzer as TC led 41-29 at intermission. In the half, TC shot a sizzling 9-for-17 from three-point territory (52.9%).
Tusculum would maintain its double-digit lead through most of the final period as LMU would cut the margin to eight points on two occasions, but that was as close as the Lady Railsplitters would get.
Tusculum's Brooke Underwood dished out a game-high 10 assists, while LMU went 22-for-29 at the free throw line (75.9%).
The Pioneers are back in action on Wednesday when they host Catawba College at 6 p.m. LMU returns home Wednesday night to host Presbyterian College at 6 p.m. at Tex Turner Arena.
