MARS HILL, N.C. --- Tusculum University opened the game with 15 consecutive points and connected on a school-record 20 three-pointers in a 97-49 victory at Mars Hill University in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action Monday evening at Burt Stanford Arena.
Five players reached double figures for the Pioneers (8-14, 6-12 SAC), who set season highs for points, field goals (36), assists (27), steals (15) and turnovers forced (29). The Pioneers scored 39 points off the 29 Lion turnovers and outscored the Lions 54-26 in the second half after leading by 20 at intermission.
The 20 three-pointers came on a school-record 46 attempts and broke the Tusculum single-game record of 19 threes set in a 111-59 win at Mars Hill on Feb. 10 of last season. The Pioneers have tied or set the program single-game record for three-pointers in each of their last three visits to Stanford Arena.
Mya Belton finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, Brianna Dixon contributed 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and Jalia Arnwine chipped in with 17 points. Nine different players hit a three-pointer for the Pioneers, with Arnwine's team-high five threes making her the third player in program history to reach 200 career treys.
Also reaching double figures for the Pioneers was Jenna Kallenberg, who came off the bench in the second half and went 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 on three-pointers to finish with 11 points. Lexi Patty was the fifth Pioneer in double figures as she shot 4-for-5 from the field for 10 points and was a plus-45 in just 18 minutes of playing time.
Sophie Henry filled the scoresheet for the Pioneers with five points, six rebounds, six assists and a career-best seven steals in 26 minutes. Dixon and Belton each blocked three shots as the Pioneers had seven rejections of the Lions in the contest.
Maddie Gillie and Brianne Rosales shared the team lead in scoring for the Lions (1-19, 1-17 SAC) with 13 points apiece, with Rosales leading all players with nine rebounds. De'Ja Marshall added 11 points and seven boards, but the Lions shot just 29.8 percent (14-for-47) from the field in the game and dropped their 11th consecutive game overall and ninth in a row to the Pioneers.
The Pioneers raced out to a 15-0 lead after three minutes as Belton scored eight straight points, including a pair of three-pointers. Mars Hill did not get on the scoreboard until a layup from Gillie with 6:38 to play in the quarter, but Henry answered with a three-pointer to stretch the Tusculum lead to 18-2 with 5:57 left. Tusculum's lead would grow to 23-2 on a layup by Patty with 3:29 left in the quarter, and an Arnwine three-pointer would push the Pioneers in front 28-7 with 1:56 to go. Mars Hill scored the final five points of the period to trim the Tusculum lead to 28-12 after one.
The Lions' run would stretch to seven straight on a jumper by Rosales with 9:04 left in the first half, but a three-pointer from Arnwine and two foul shots by Dixon gave Tusculum a 33-14 advantage with 7:41 to go. Consecutive threes from Averie Price and Belton gave the Pioneers their largest lead to that point at 39-17 with 4:46 remaining in the quarter. The Pioneers would go 3 1/2 minutes without a point until a Belton jumper pushed the Pioneers ahead 41-21 with 1:04 left in the half. Belton would add another bucket with 37 seconds left to send the Pioneers to the break with a 43-23 lead.
Belton led all players with 15 points in the first half on 6-for-10 shooting, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc, while Patty had eight points on 3-for-3 shooting. Arnwine added six points and Henry filled the scoresheet with five points, five rebounds and four steals in the first half for the Pioneers. Tusculum shot 42.1 percent (16-for-38) from the field and went 8-for-20 from three-point range, while outrebounding Mars Hill 25-16. Rosales led the Lions with eight points and five rebounds in the opening half, but Mars Hill shot 29.6 percent (8-for-27) from the floor and turned the ball over 11 times.
Tusculum scored nine straight points after a three-pointer by the Lions' Gillie on the first possession of third quarter, taking a 52-26 lead on a putback by Dixon with 6:57 left. Consecutive three-pointers from Dixon and Arnwine stretched the Tusculum advantage to 60-29 with 5:11 remaining, and another three-pointer from Arnwine capped an 11-0 run and gave the Pioneers a 63-29 lead with 3:59 to go. Dixon drained another three-pointer with 51 seconds left as the Pioneers went to the fourth quarter holding a 68-34 lead.
The Pioneers pulled away further in the fourth, using a 7-0 run to take a 77-36 lead with 7:30 left on a three-pointer from Dixon. Kallenberg came off the bench and scored eight points in a row to stretch Tusculum's lead to 85-38 with 5:25 remaining. Natalia Crooke then stepped onto the court and hit back-to-back threes as the Pioneers went up 91-40 with 3:56 to go. Two more three-pointers, from Chloe Warrington and Kallenberg, gave the Pioneers a 97-45 edge with 2:21 remaining.
Crooke had a season-high six points along with three assists off the bench for the Pioneers, and Warrington added three points, four rebounds and three assists in 13 minutes. Tusculum's bench outscored the Mars Hill bench by a 27-8 margin, and the Pioneers had a 41-38 edge in rebounding over the Lions.
With exactly 200 career three-pointers, Arnwine joins Ashli Oliver (375 three-pointers from 2005-09) and Kendal Baxter (320 threes from 2009-13) as the only players in school history to reach the 200 milestone. Arnwine also moved into 16th place on the Tusculum career scoring list with 1,081 points, passing former teammate Mia Long who scored 1,077 points from 2017-20.
Monday's game was rescheduled from January 12, and the teams will turn around and meet again on Wednesday at 5:30 pm at Pioneer Arena.
