Tusculum University drilled 17 three-pointers and outscored North Greenville University 49-12 in the second and third quarters as the Pioneers rolled to a 93-40 victory Saturday evening in the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas Women’s Basketball Challenge at Goodman Gymnasium.
Blayre Shultz hit six three-pointers in nine attempts and finished with 21 points for the Pioneers, while Mya Belton added 16 points and eight rebounds. Jami Tham and Deidre Cheremond each recorded a double-double, with Tham finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Cheremond adding 14 points and 14 boards.
Tusculum (2-0) shot 57.4 percent (35-for-61) from the field and went 17-for-30 (56.7 percent) from three-point range. The 17 three-pointers are the fifth-most in a game in program history, while the 56.7 percentage is seventh-best in a single game by the Pioneers.
The 53-point margin of victory was the biggest by Tusculum against a Division II opponent since Jan. 2, 2019 when the Pioneers beat Bluefield State 94-36. Tusculum outrebounded North Greenville 44-22 and scored 26 points off 21 Crusader turnovers in opening the season with two straight victories for the sixth time in the last eight years.
Maliyah Lockett and Jayda Glass shared the team lead in scoring for the Crusaders (0-2) with 11 points apiece, with nine points from Angie Rodriguez as the trio combined for 13 of North Greenville’s 16 field goals in the game. The Crusaders shot 30.2 percent (16-for-53) from the field and went 4-for-19 from beyond the arc.
The first five field goals of the game were three-pointers, including three from Belton which gave Tusculum a 9-7 lead with 7:14 left in the first quarter. The Pioneers would run off nine straight points to go up 15-7 on a layup by Sophie Henry with 4:30 left in the opening quarter, and a bucket from Alyssa Walker would stretch the Tusculum lead to 22-11 with 1:07 remaining. Rodriguez scored the final basket of the quarter for the Crusaders as the Pioneers carried a 22-13 advantage into the second quarter.
The second period would be all Pioneers as Tusculum shot 10-for-13 (76.9 percent) from the field and 5-for-6 on three-pointers in the frame. A 13-1 Tusculum run featured three-pointers from Belton, Cheremond and Shultz, the latter stretching the Pioneer lead to 39-16 with 4:50 remaining in the half. Shultz would hit two more three-pointers in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the half to help Tusculum build a 29-point lead en route to a 49-22 advantage at intermission.
Tusculum shot 62.1 percent (18-for-29) from the field in the first half and went 9-for-12 from three-point range as a team. Belton led the Pioneers with 16 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including four threes in five attempts, along with six rebounds, while Cheremond was 5-for-7 from the floor and had 12 points along with seven boards. Lockett paced the Crusaders with seven points in the first half while Glass added five, but North Greenville shot just 36 percent (9-for-25) and turned the ball over 11 times in the half.
The Pioneers continued their domination of the Crusaders in the third quarter, outscoring North Greenville by a 22-3 margin while holding the Crusaders to 1-for-14 from the field, including 0-for-9 from three-point range. The Pioneers opened the second half with a 13-0 run and received nine points from Shultz and eight from Tham in the period.
The lead would balloon to as many as 56 points in the second half as the Pioneers hit five more three-pointers in the fourth quarter, including triples from Natalia Crooke, Delana DeBusk, Averie Price and McKenna Myers.
Henry had eight assists for the Pioneers, matching her career high set against UVA Wise on Feb. 23 of last season. Walker had eight points and two blocked shots in 17 minutes, while Jenna Kallenberg contributed four points and three assists.
Tusculum will travel to face nationally-ranked North Georgia on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 5:30 p.m. The Nighthawks were a 2022 NCAA Division II national semifinalist and opened the season ranked fourth in the D2SIDA and 18th in the WBCA preseason polls, but squeaked past Lees-McRae 68-67 in their season opener on Saturday. The Pioneers upset the Nighthawks last Dec. 8 at Pioneer Arena 54-38 when North Georgia was ranked fourth by the WBCA and seventh by D2SIDA.
