GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College women's basketball team held Coker College scoreless for the first seven and a half minutes of the second half and held off a late rally by the Cobras in its 75-66 victory on Saturday afternoon in Greeneville. Four Pioneers scored in double figures, led by 18 points from junior guard Shynese Whitener.

Tusculum improves to 4-11 overall and 4-8 in the South Atlantic Conference and snaps a four-game winless streak. Coker falls to 7-11 overall and 3-9 in the SAC after being held to just 29.7 percent shooting from the field (22-74), a season-low for the Pioneer defense.

Sophomore guard Maelyn Cutshaw tallied 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field while senior guard Blakeley Burleson added 13 points with a pair of three-pointers and a perfect five-of-five shooting at the line. Senior forward Rainey Story finished with 12 points off the bench and junior forward Kristen McMillion had a game-high 15 rebounds while nearly recording a double-double with eight points.

After holding a 35-29 lead at halftime, the Pioneers opened the second half on an 11-0 run and held a 46-29 lead with 13:02 to play in the game. During the Cobras' long scoreless drought, they missed 12 field goals and the Pioneers forced five of their 15 turnovers for the contest.

However, later in the half Coker cut a 17-point deficit to just five after Tanesha Stenson's three pointer capped a 16-4 run that put Tusculum's lead at just 54-49 with 7:23 remaining. A pair of free throws by the Cobras' Hailey Yohn made the score 57-51 with five and a half minutes to play, but the Pioneers answered with an 8-0 spurt that gave them a 65-51 advantage with just under four minutes to play.

TC finished the game shooting a season-high 88.5 percent from the free throw stripe (23-26) and Whitener went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line in the game's final three minutes to preserve the Pioneers' nine-point victory.

Stenson led the Cobras with 15 points while Kiara Shoats added 12. Heidrun Kristmundsdottir added eight points off the bench while Stenson and Kelley Godbout pulled down five rebounds each.

Coker held its largest lead of the game at 10-5 six minutes into the contest, but Cutshaw and Burleson answered with back-to-back three pointers to give TC an 11-10 lead with 13:31 to play before the half. Later in the opening frame, Shoats and Lakeria Crowder cut a seven-point Pioneer lead to just one with back-to-back triples, making the score 29-28 with 3:32 to play before the break.

Sophomore forward Jessica Hairston answered for TC with a layup to push the lead back to three, but Stenson hit one-of-two free throws to make the Pioneer advantage 31-29 with 1:26 remaining in the half. Whitener gave Tusculum a big boost before the break with two layups in the final minute of the half to give TC a 35-29 lead in the locker room.

The Pioneers shot 40.7 percent from the field (24-59) and 40 percent from behind the arc (4-10) while the Cobras hit 10 of their 31 three point attempts (32.3%). TC out-rebounded Coker 50-41, out-scored the Cobras in the paint 30-18, and held an18-10 advantage in fast-break points.

Tusculum will be back in action on Wednesday night (Jan. 28) when it welcomes Mars Hill to Pioneer Arena for a 6 p.m. tipoff.