The Pioneers (1-3) were led by a season-high 28 points from senior All-American Jasmine Gunn, while sophomore guard Kendal Baxter drained five three-pointers and added 22 points. Senior guard Jasmine Parker chipped in with 17 points, senior guard Brittni Oliver tallied 10 points and junior forward Linda Aughburns posted her first double-double for Tusculum with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Flyers (2-3) also placed five players in double figures, as Lory Shaw led the way with 25 points while Kelly Monaco added 16 points and Jenny Turpel contributed 10 points, a team-high six rebounds and four assists off the bench.
Tusculum, which entered the game averaging just 53.7 points per game, shot 48.3 percent (28-for-58) from the field and thrived at the foul line by going 31-for-35 (88.6 percent) from the stripe. Gunn finished 11-for-12 in free throws while Baxter was perfect in seven attempts and Parker canned all five of her tries.
The Pioneers also controlled the boards, finishing with a 37-27 advantage in rebounding over the Flyers. In addition to Aughburns' 11 rebounds, senior forward Staci Hicks grabbed eight rebounds and sophomore forward Fayola Moise came off the bench to pull seven boards in 23 minutes of action.
Lewis had a strong shooting performance as well, wrapping up the game at 51.7 percent (31-for-60) from the field and 8-for-13 from three-point range. However, the Flyers' 14 turnovers were converted into 22 points for the Pioneers while Lewis turned 12 Tusculum miscues into just seven points.
The teams were tied four times in the opening half, with the Pioneers breaking the final deadlock of 21-21 by scoring nine unanswered points, the final three from Baxter giving the Pioneers a 30-21 lead with 9:33 left in the half. Two free throws by Oliver gave Tusculum its first double-figure lead at 37-27 with 4:54 to go, and the Pioneers went on to build their advantage to as many as 14 points before taking a 46-36 lead into halftime.
Gunn, Parker and Oliver all finished with 10 points while Baxter came off the bench to drill three three-pointers and tally nine points in the first half for Tusculum. Aughburns led the Pioneers with five rebounds and chipped in with seven points as Tusculum shot 48.5 percent (16-for-33) from the field in the first half, including 4-for-7 from long range.
Shaw paced the Flyers with a game-high 16 points in the first half, with Labrenthia Murdock adding seven points as Lewis shot 54.2 percent (13-for-24) from the field in the first half as a team.
A three-point play by Gunn gave the Pioneers a 51-39 lead with 18:44 left, but the Flyers scored the game's next nine point to cut the Tusculum lead to 51-48 with 16:28 to go. The Pioneers kept the Flyers at bay thanks to a three-pointer by Baxter, a three-point play by Parker and a layup by Gunn which extended Tusculum's lead to 60-53 with 13:34 left.
Lewis crawled within 69-64 with 8:43 to go on a three-pointer by Kady Currin, only to see the Pioneers reel off five straight points on two foul shots by Parker and the fifth three-pointer of the game by Baxter which gave Tusculum a 74-64 lead with 7:22 left.
The Flyers cut the deficit to seven points three times, the latter with 2:09 left at 83-76, but the Pioneers capped their 31-for-35 effort at the foul line as a team by hitting 10-of-12 from the stripe in the final 2:17.
Tusculum closes play at the Thanksgiving Classic Saturday afternoon against the seventh-ranked host Greyhounds, beginning at 5 p.m. Indianapolis routed Marygrove 121-40 in Friday's tournament opener.
No comments:
Post a Comment