SALISBURY, N.C. --- Jami Tham scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Blayre Shultz added 18 points as Tusculum University opened the 2022-23 season with a 65-50 victory over the University of Mount Olive in the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas Women's Basketball Challenge Friday evening at Goodman Gymnasium.
Mya Belton added 10 points, a game-high 14 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Pioneers (1-0), who led nearly start to finish and shot 49.0 percent (24-for-49) from the field in the game. Tusculum held Mount Olive to 3-for-25 from three-point range and had a 43-32 rebound edge over the Trojans, who finished second in Conference Carolinas last season at 15-4 in the league and were picked fourth in this year's preseason conference poll.
Laila Anderson paced the Trojans (0-1) with 13 points and Laila Harris and Haleigh Crews added 11 points apiece, but Mount Olive could not take advantage of 22 Tusculum turnovers. Overall, the Trojans shot 32.8 percent (21-for-64) from the field including 8-for-32 (25 percent) in the second half.
Tham, making her Tusculum debut after a stellar four-year career at Barton, recorded her 34th career double-double by shooting 9-for-12 from the field and scoring 13 of her 21 points in the second half. Shultz, also playing her first game for the Pioneers after a season at Coastal Carolina, was 6-for-14 from the floor and drilled three three-pointers in 37 minutes.
Belton, who hit a pair of threes, posted her 11th career double-double and was one short of her career highs in both rebounds and blocked shots. Alyssa Walker and Sophie Henry each scored six points for the Pioneers, who opened the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run on their way to building a 20-point lead in the final three minutes.
Mount Olive's only lead of the game would be at 2-0 on a layup by Anderson on the opening possession, but the Trojans would then go scoreless for nearly five minutes as a three-pointer by Belton and three points from Tham pushed the Pioneers up 6-2 with 5:34 left in the opening quarter. Three-pointers from Shultz and Belton and two free throws from Shultz stretched the Tusculum lead to 18-6 with 1:44 remaining in the period, but seven straight points from Anderson would bring Mount Olive back to within 18-13 after one quarter.
Tusculum's lead would bounce back to 11 points following a putback by Shultz with 6:41 left in the first half, but Mount Olive would trim the margin to 33-29 on a three-pointer by Kaia Simpson with 1:56 remaining. A foul shot by the Pioneers' Deidre Cheremond with 1:12 to play would send Tusculum to intermission with a 34-29 lead.
Shultz led the Pioneers with nine points in the first half, with Belton contributing six points and six rebounds and Tham adding eight points and five boards. Tusculum shot 52.2 percent (12-for-23) from the field in the opening half but turned the ball over 12 times. Anderson had 11 points to pace Mount Olive in the half, but the Trojans went just 13-for-32 (40.6 percent) from the floor and 3-for-16 from beyond the arc as a team.
Mount Olive would pull to within three at 34-31 on a basket by Crews early in the third quarter, but a three-pointer by Shultz would stretch Tusculum's lead to 37-31 on the next possession. A 9-2 Pioneer run sparked by four points from Tham and a three from Shultz would give Tusculum a 46-35 lead with 3:55 left in the third, but Mount Olive would score the final six points of the period as the Pioneers turned the ball over four times in the final 2 1/2 minutes.
Tusculum carried a 46-41 lead into the fourth, and promptly ran off 12 straight points including six from Tham and four from Henry, to build a 58-41 lead with 6:48 remaining. Mount Olive started the fourth quarter by missing its first six shots until a jumper by Crews with 5:05 left after the Pioneers had gone up 61-43 on a three-point play by Shultz. The Pioneers' largest lead came at 65-45 on a three-point play by Tham with 2:30 left.
Henry's six points tied her career high set at Kentucky Wesleyan on Dec. 18, 2019 and she added four assists in 38 minutes. Off the bench, Lexi Patty had three points but grabbed four rebounds and had a career-best five assists in 20 minutes for the Pioneers. Cheremond contributed five rebounds in nine minutes for Tusculum, which permitted just eight offensive rebounds for Mount Olive and only four second-chance points.
Tusculum will face North Greenville on the second day of the SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge at 6 p.m. Saturday from Catawba. The Crusaders committed 36 turnovers and lost to the host Indians 102-48 in their season opener Friday night.
