GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Anderson University erased a third-quarter deficit with a lengthy run and went on to claim an 80-55 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action Wednesday evening at Pioneer Arena.

Shameka McNeill scored a game-high 28 points and Samantha Michel added 21 points off the bench for the Trojans (12-8, 12-4 SAC), who scored 33 straight points after the Pioneers took a 38-32 lead in the first minute of the third quarter. Anderson outscored Tusculum 27-3 in the third quarter and 48-20 in the second half after trailing by three at halftime.

Jalia Arnwine led the Pioneers (6-12, 4-10 SAC) with 20 points, including the 1,000th of her career early in the second quarter, and Brianna Dixon added 17 for Tusculum, which shot 20.6 percent (7-for-34) from the field in the second half and 32.3 percent (21-for-65) for the game. The Pioneers were outrebounded by the Trojans by a 44-32 margin and the Anderson bench outscored the Tusculum reserves 33-8.

Arnwine reached the 1,000-point milestone on a jumper in the lane with 8:01 left in the second quarter, becoming the 20th player in program history to accomplish the feat. The Knoxville, Tennessee native ended the game with 1,011 career points after reaching 20 points for the second time this season, doing so on 9-for-14 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds.

Anderson finished the game at 48.2 percent (27-for-56) from the field and 19-for-23 from the foul line. Taylor Hair had eight points and five assists off the bench and Britney Bailey grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, with Diamond McDowell adding seven points and eight boards.

For Tusculum, Mya Belton posted double figures in rebounds for the fourth straight game with a team-high 10, while adding a career-best five blocked shots and seven points. Off the bench, Jordan Rogers had four points and three rebounds and matched her career high with four steals.

There were five lead changes in the opening quarter, which saw Anderson take a 12-7 lead on four three-pointers by McNeill, the last with 4:14 left in the period. Tusculum answered with a 9-0 run, including back-to-back threes from Belton and Arnwine to go up 16-12 with 2:46 remaining. Another three from Arnwine gave the Pioneers a 19-15 lead with 1:41 left in the quarter, but two free throws from Hair and a layup by Michel tied the game at 19-19 after one.

Arnwine stayed hot in the second quarter, hitting a layup to give Tusculum a 21-19 lead and then nailing her milestone bucket for a 23-20 advantage. After her 1,000th point, Arnwine connected on three more field goals to give her 16 points and Tusculum a 29-25 lead with 4:16 to go in the half. A three-point play by Hair gave Anderson the lead back at 30-29 with 3:19 left, but Tusculum rattled off six in a row on two foul shots from Dixon, a jumper by Dixon and a steal and bucket from Rogers to go up 35-30 with 1:11 to play. Michel scored on a putback with 49 seconds left as the Pioneers carried a 35-32 lead to intermission.

Arnwine's 16 first-half points came on 7-for-9 shooting from the field and 2-for-4 from three-point range for the Pioneers. Dixon added nine points and four assists and Belton had five points and six rebounds as Tusculum shot 45.2 percent (14-for-31) from the field as a team. McNeill had 14 points to lead the Trojans in the opening half, with 10 from Michel and eight from Hair as Anderson was 11-for-23 (47.8 percent) from the floor. Tusculum benefitted from 12 first-half turnovers by Anderson, scoring 16 points off the Trojan miscues.

In the third quarter, Dixon hit a three-pointer on the Pioneers' opening possession to give Tusculum its largest lead at 38-32 with 9:27 remaining in the period. From there, the Pioneers would miss their final 13 shot attempts of the quarter as Anderson closed the period with 27 unanswered points. The Trojans shot 60 percent from the field (9-for-15) in the quarter and 7-for-7 at the foul line, with McNeill and Michel scoring seven points apiece. Anderson took the lead at 39-38 on a putback by McDowell with 6:21 left in the quarter and closed the period on a fluke play, as a half-court heave by Stafford before the buzzer was caught by McDowell and laid in with less than a second left to give Anderson a 59-38 lead heading to the fourth.

Anderson stretched the run to 33 points by scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter, before Tusculum broke its drought at 12 minutes, 20 seconds and 16 straight misses as Myajae Eubanks scored on a fast-break layup with 7:07 to play. Tusculum would whittle the deficit to 20 on two occasions in the fourth quarter, as Dixon had five points in the final frame and Arnwine added four.

Tusculum was a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line in the game, the second time in the last three games that the Pioneers did not miss a free throw. Over the last six games, the Pioneers are shooting 83.8 percent (62-for-74) from the free throw line. The Pioneers also came up with a season-high 12 steals off 19 Anderson turnovers, converting them into 20 points.

The Pioneers will conclude January with a home game against Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday at 2 p.m. Tusculum defeated Lenoir-Rhyne 58-48 on the road on Dec. 18 and has won the last nine meetings with the Bears (6-10, 5-9 SAC), who beat Mars Hill 74-57 Wednesday evening to move into eighth place in the SAC standings, a half-game ahead of Queens and UVA Wise (each 5-10) and one game up on the Pioneers.