GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's basketball team opens its 2022-23 season this weekend with a pair of games as part of the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas Challenge, hosted by Catawba College.
The Pioneers will face Mount Olive on Friday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. followed by a matchup with North Greenville on Saturday, Nov. 12 at Goodman Gymnasium in Salisbury, North Carolina. Head coach Meagan Price returns three starters from last year's team that finished eighth in the SAC with a 10-14 league record and 12-17 overall and was picked ninth in the preseason coaches poll.
"I think we have a very talented team, even though we may be young in spots," said Price, who begins her third season as Tusculum head coach with a 31-21 record in two years with the Pioneers and a career 69-37 record through four seasons. "Our younger players definitely have the talent to support our experienced players. But the key for us will be our ability to score."
The Pioneers will be strengthened by the addition of two key transfers, graduate forward Jami Tham (Barton) and senior guard Blayre Shultz (Coastal Carolina), along with the return of guard Mya Belton for her fifth season of eligibility. Tusculum has eight returnees from last season's squad to go along with four freshmen and the two transfers.
Belton, a second-team preseason All-SAC selection, is the Pioneers' top returning scorer at 12.1 points per game. The 5-9 graduate student from Blythewood, South Carolina was the lone Pioneer to start all 29 games last season and finished second in the SAC in rebounds per game (9.3) and fourth in blocked shots (1.66 per game). Belton finished in double figures 20 times and had nine double-doubles. Belton enters her final season at Tusculum with 730 points and 122 three-pointers in 99 career games.
Tham scored 1,150 points and collected 825 rebounds in 100 career games at Barton, where she had 33 double-doubles and shot 48.4 percent from the field. The 5-11 graduate student from Arlington, Virginia was first-team All-Conference Carolinas each of the past two years and was second team D2CCA All-Southeast Region last year after leading CC in rebounding (10.9 per game) and ranking fourth in scoring (16.0 ppg). Tham had 14 double-doubles last season and shot 49.1 percent from the field and 82.2 percent from the foul line during the 2021-22 campaign.
Shultz comes to Tusculum after averaging 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game at Coastal Carolina last season. With the Chanticleers, Shultz drilled 31 three-pointers and shot 78.7 percent from the foul line and scored in double figures nine times. Prior to Coastal, Shultz was second-team NJCAA All-America and Region VIII East Player of the Year in 2020-21 at Walters State where she averaged 18.7 points per game as a sophomore and 11.2 points per game as a freshman and drilled 112 three-pointers in 45 games. The 5-7 senior from Morristown, Tennessee was two-time Lakeway Area Player of the Year at Morristown West High School.
Bolstering the Pioneers in the post are seniors Alyssa Walker and Deidre Chermond, while senior Sophie Henry and sophomore Lexi Patty are key returnees in the Tusculum backcourt.
Walker appeared in 25 games last season in her first year with the Pioneers after transferring from Western Carolina. The 5-11 senior from Maryville, Tennessee averaged 4.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, and shot 22-for-23 (95.7 percent) from the foul line, including 17 in a row to end the season.
Cheremond played 12 games last season and made three starts, finishing the year at 7.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. A 5-9 senior from Cape Coral, Florida, Cheremond led the Pioneers in field-goal percentage at 47.4 percent (36-for-76) and shot 81.0 percent (17-for-21) from the foul line last season.
Henry returned from a midseason injury to start 24 games and lead the team in assists (75) and steals (51), while ranking third in the SAC and 67th in Division II in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) and third in the SAC and 96th in Division II in steals per game at 2.1. The 5-6 senior from Sevierville, Tennessee had two or more steals in 20 of her 24 games, with a season high of seven at Mars Hill on Feb. 7.
Patty played 26 games as a freshman and made nine starts, finishing with 4.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 80 percent (16-for-20) at the foul line. The 5-9 sophomore from Maryville, Tennessee averaged 7.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in her nine starts, including 15 in 22 minutes against UVA Wise on Feb. 23 and 15 on 6-for-9 shooting against fourth-ranked North Georgia on Dec. 5.
Additional depth in the backcourt will come from juniors Jenna Kallenberg, Averie Price and Natalia Crooke, each of whom are capable three-point shooters.
Kallenberg averaged 3.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per game in 17 contests last season, her first year with the Pioneers after transferring from Western Kentucky. The 5-10 junior from Knoxville, Tennessee made five starts and ranked fifth on the team with 15 three-pointers, including five in a career-best 17-point performance against North Greenville on Nov. 13.
Crooke came off the bench in her first season with the Pioneers after transferring from Lander, and averaged 2.1 points per game in eight games, with the 5-5 native of Orlando, Florida hitting 5-for-10 from three-point range. Price played in seven games for the Pioneers last season and averaged 1.7 points in 7.1 minutes per game. The 5-9 native of Lebanon, Virginia was 2-for-8 from three-point range, including 2-for-2 against Mars Hill on Feb. 9 en route to a career-best seven points.
Guard Kirsten Click, who missed the 2021-22 season due to a knee injury, sustained another knee injury prior to the start of this season and will be forced to sit out a second straight year. The 5-8 senior from Amelia, Ohio is averaging 3.6 points and shooting 31.3 percent (41-for-131) from three-point range in 37 career games.
Tusculum welcomes four freshmen to the program for the 2022-23 season: Delana DeBusk, Alyssa Lindsey, Carleigh Wilson and McKenna Myers.
DeBusk, whose father, Doug, is a member of the Tusculum Sports Hall of Fame and is still the Pioneer men's basketball career leader with 735 assists, was three-time All-District at Greeneville High School and was the team defensive MVP four times. The 5-2 guard averaged nine points and four rebounds as a senior and finished with 943 points and 419 assists in her high school career.
Lindsey was a 1,000-point scorer at Central Hardin High School in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where the 5-5 guard was All-District as a junior and senior and All-Region as a senior. Wilson, who missed 2 1/2 years of her high-school career due to injury, still scored 874 points and had more than 400 rebounds. The 5-9 guard was All-District as a senior at Oakland High School. Myers was also a 1,000-point scorer in high school, with the 5-8 guard averaging 14 points and five rebounds a game as a senior at William Blount High School.
Tusculum's 28-game schedule includes 18 regular-season SAC contests, with the Pioneers playing each of the other six teams in the Mountain Division home-and-away and the six teams in the Piedmont Division once each. The Pioneers' 10-game non-conference schedule features rematches with three of last year's four non-conference foes, along with three non-NCAA opponents.
