SALISBURY, N.C. --- Sara McIntosh tied her career high with 25 points and Shemya Stanback had 14 points and 16 rebounds to lift 20th-ranked Catawba College to a 69-58 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action at Goodman Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
The Indians (4-0, 2-0 SAC) led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter before the Pioneers (1-3, 0-2 SAC) rallied to within two points early in the fourth. However, a 9-0 run by Catawba proved decisive as the Indians put the game away at the foul line by going 17-for-22 at the stripe in the game and 13-for-16 in the second half.
The Pioneers committed just 12 turnovers against an Indians defense that came into the game forcing 29 turnovers per game, but Tusculum shot 33.8 percent (24-for-71) from the field and 6-for-29 from three-point range. The Pioneers were outrebounded 56-38 and shot 4-for-9 from the foul line as a team, while allowing Catawba to score 18 second-chance points off 16 offensive rebounds. Tusculum's defense did force Catawba into 17 turnovers, which the Pioneers converted into 23 points, and the TU bench outscored the Catawba reserves by a 32-9 margin.
Tusculum was led by Chloe Warrington and Jordan Rogers, who scored 12 points apiece off the bench. Warrington was 4-for-8 from three-point range and had six rebounds, while Rogers added four rebounds, four assists and two steals in 28 minutes. Mya Belton added 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots and Alyssa Walker contributed eight points, five rebounds and three steals.
McIntosh shot 10-for-14 from the field and 5-for-6 from the foul line for the Indians, while Stanback was 5-for-11 from the floor and went 3-for-4 at the stripe. Lyrik Thorne, who entered the game leading the Indians in scoring at 15.0 points per game, was held to just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting. Catawba, which led the conference in three-pointers per game with 11.0, went just 4-for-18 from beyond the arc but outscored Tusculum 36-32 in the paint.
The teams combined to miss their first five shots before a steal and layup from Stanback with 8:12 left in the opening quarter. Tusculum responded with five straight points on a three from Jalia Arnwine and a layup by Sophie Henry for its largest lead at 5-2 with 7:23 remaining. Catawba's largest lead of the first quarter was 11-7 following a putback by McIntosh with 1:40 to go, but back-to-back buckets from Belton and Walker tied the game at 11-11 with 1:24 remaining. A three-pointer by Stanback with 35 seconds left helped give the Indians a 14-13 lead after one quarter.
Tusculum went scoreless for the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second quarter as Catawba built a 21-13 lead with seven straight points, capped by a three-pointer from Mercedes Wampler with 5:59 left in the first half. The Pioneers went 0-for-8 from the field with four turnovers until Warrington drilled a three-pointer with 4:35 left in the quarter. Down 26-16 following a Stanback layup with 2:33 left in the half, the Pioneers ran off seven straight points to pull within 26-23 on a three from Warrington with 1:34 to go. However, Catawba would respond with the final five points of the half to take a 31-23 lead into intermission.
McIntosh led all players with 10 points in the first half, while Stanback had nine points and 11 rebounds from her guard position. The Indians shot 37.5 percent (12-for-32) from the field as a team in the half and were 3-for-11 from three-point range. Walker and Warrington shared the team lead for Tusculum with six points and four rebounds, while Arnwine had seven rebounds to go along with three points. The Pioneers shot 3-for-17 from three-point range and 24.3 percent (9-for-37) overall in the first half.
Catawba extended its run to 13-0 by scoring the first eight points of the third quarter to go up 39-23 following a layup by McIntosh off a steal with 6:58 left in the period. Tusculum was 0-for-5 from the field in the quarter until Warrington broke the drought with a three with 6:33 to go. An off-balance, desperation scoop shot by Rogers seemed to spark the Pioneers, as a quick 10-2 run brought Tusculum within 45-39 with 2:22 to go in the quarter on a layup by Lexi Patty. A Warrington three-pointer cut the Indians' lead to 47-42 with 1:23 left in the third, and a late layup by Deidre Cheremond pulled Tusculum within 48-44 after three.
Catawba went up seven at 51-44 on a three-point play by Thorne with 8:50 left, but a basket from Belton and a three-point play from Rogers cut the Indians' lead to 51-49 with 8:12 to go. But, Catawba responded with nine straight points to go up 60-49 on a putback by Taisha DeShazo with 5:47 left. A basket from Walker broke the Catawba run with 5:27 left, and another three-point play from Rogers pulled the Pioneers back within 65-56 with 3:48 remaining. Rogers would score the final points for the Pioneers with 37 seconds left before fouling out.
Henry was held to just 12 minutes due to foul trouble and finished with two points and three assists for the Pioneers, while Patty had four points in 12 minutes off the Tusculum bench. Arnwine ended up with five points and seven rebounds while Cheremond had four points and two boards in eight minutes.
Tusculum will host Limestone on Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Pioneer Arena. Limestone remained undefeated at 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SAC with a 57-43 win at Newberry on Saturday afternoon.
