HICKORY, N.C. --- Tusculum College clinched the outright South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball regular-season championship with a 53-43 victory at Lenoir-Rhyne University Wednesday night at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.
Jasmine Gunn scored a game-high 23 points while Linda Aughburns grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds for the Pioneers (18-7, 14-3 SAC), who will be the top seed in next week's Food Lion SAC Tournament. It is the third regular-season conference title in the last four years for Tusculum and its second outright crown in that span.
The Bears (14-11, 11-6 SAC) shot 29.8 percent (17-for-57) and placed no one in double figures to fall into a three-way tie for second place with Wingate and Newberry heading into the final game of the regular season on Saturday.
Gunn became the fourth player in SAC history and the second player in program history to surpass 2,100 career points while extending her streak of consecutive 20-point performances to six games in a row. At 2,116 points, Gunn is 47 points shy of passing Denise Shelton (Mars Hill, 1998-2002) for third place on the SAC career list.
Aughburns' 17 rebounds surpassed both her season high of 14 boards set against Clayton State on November 21 and her career best of 15 rebounds established against High Point on January 26, 2009 while playing for UNC Asheville.
Meanwhile, the Pioneer defense shut down Lenoir-Rhyne standout guard Cameron Sealey, who entered the night ranked second to Gunn in the SAC in scoring average at 18.8 points per game and a streak of scoring double figures in all 24 games this season. In 36 minutes, Sealey attempted just six shots and finished with a season-low four points.
The Bears jumped out to a 7-0 lead after 3 1/2 minutes on a three-pointer by Whitley Culler and back-to-back jumpers by Culler and Sealey. The Pioneers bounced right back with eight straight points of their own, with Gunn's putback putting Tusculum ahead 8-7 with 13:22 left in the first half.
Lenoir-Rhyne regained its seven-point lead at 17-10 following a layup by Danielle Bongiorno with 6:15 left in the half, only to see the Pioneers scored 15 of the next 17 points to carry a 25-19 lead into halftime. Gunn's jumper gave the Pioneers a 21-19 lead with 1:06 to play, then she beat the halftime buzzer with a three-pointer.
Gunn shot 7-for-12 from the field in the first half and led all players with 17 points, while Culler's five early points stood up as the team lead for the Bears.
Ashley Pearson scored three straight field goals to open the second half and lift the Bears into a 25-25 deadlock, but a layup from Catherine Hintz and two in a row from Jasmine Parker restored the Pioneers' six-point lead at 31-25 with 16:03 remaining.
Tusculum continued to build the lead, reaching 14 points at 47-33 following a layup by Gunn with 10:11 to play. Lenoir-Rhyne trimmed the deficit to eight at 51-43 on a jumper by Alexis Katt with 2:54 remaining, but the Bears missed their final four shots and went scoreless the rest of the way. Aughburns provided the final points of the night by drilling two free throws with 29 seconds to go.
Hintz just missed her sixth double-double of the season as she finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes of playing time. She blocked a pair of shots to increase her career total to 100 blocks, making her the fifth player in program history to reach the milestone.
The Pioneers, who lead the SAC and rank 32nd in Division II in rebound margin at plus-5.7 rebounds per game, improved on that figure by finishing with a 49-38 edge on the glass over the Bears. Tusculum finished the game at 35.5 percent (22-for-62) from the field, while both teams shot 8-for-14 at the free-throw line.
Tusculum wraps up its regular season Saturday at Mars Hill beginning at 2 p.m., and opens the Food Lion SAC Tournament next Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena against the eighth seed.
- TC -
