Jami Tham scored a season-high 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as Tusculum University defeated Lincoln Memorial University 67-38 in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Tex Turner Arena.
The Pioneers (7-1, 1-0 SAC) won their fifth straight game by holding the Railsplitters (5-3, 1-1 SAC) to a season-low 28.6 percent (16-for-56) shooting from the field and 4-for-27 from three-point range. Tusculum, ranked sixth in the D2SIDA Southeast Region poll this week, scored 22 points off 20 Lincoln Memorial turnovers and had a 43-33 rebounding advantage over the Railsplitters in the game.
The 29-point win was the largest for the Pioneers over the Railsplitters in a SAC regular-season game, and the largest in the series since an 89-55 win by Tusculum over Lincoln Memorial in the 2009 SAC Championship quarterfinals. The victory was also the eighth for Tusculum in their last nine meetings with LMU and their fourth straight win at Tex Turner Arena.
The Pioneers shot 44.3 percent (27-for-61) from the field, led by Tham who went 11-for-16 to surpass her previous season high of 21 set in the opener against Mount Olive on Nov. 11. Her 18 rebounds matched her season high set against Regent on Nov. 18 and were one shy of her career high of 19 set against UNC Pembroke last season. Tham leads Division II with eight double-doubles in as many games this season, and leads all active Division II players with 41 career double-doubles.
Mya Belton just missed a double-double for the second straight game as she contributed 15 points and nine rebounds, while Blayre Shultz had 14 points and seven assists for the Pioneers, who led 35-15 at halftime and by as many as 36 points in the fourth quarter.
Saquita Joyner was the lone Railsplitter to finish in double figures, as she collected 13 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field. Alexis Schulz added eight points off the bench and Jordan Maney scored seven points for Lincoln Memorial, which was coming off a three-game winning streak that included back-to-back 84-point performances against Columbia and Mars Hill.
Baskets by Sophie Henry and Tham gave the Pioneers a 4-0 lead after 2 1/2 minutes, but the Railsplitters quickly knotted the score at 4-4 on baskets from Joyner and Maney. Tusculum would then run off eight straight points, including a pair of three-pointers from Shultz, to take a 12-4 lead with 2:55 left in the opening quarter. That score would hold for nearly the entire remainder of the quarter, as a layup by Alexis Smiddy with under three seconds left snapped a scoring drought of six minutes for the Railsplitters and cut the Tusculum lead to 12-6 after one period.
Tusculum would stretch its lead to 17-6 as Deidre Cheremond hit two free throws and then followed with a three-pointer with 8:38 left in the first half. Lincoln Memorial would connect on its first three-pointer after nine misses as Schulz drilled one to pull the Railsplitters back within 17-9. Belton would score seven straight points for the Pioneers on four free throws and a three-pointer, with her latter two foul shots giving Tusculum a 28-14 lead with 4:05 to play in the opening half. Tusculum would finish the half with a 9-1 run, capped by a steal and layup by Delana DeBusk with 1:06 left that would send the Pioneers to the locker room with a 35-15 lead.
Belton led the Pioneers with nine points in the first half to go along with six rebounds, while Tham had eight points and nine rebounds. Shultz added six points for the Pioneers, who shot 42.9 percent (12-for-28) from the field and 5-for-13 from three-point range while turning the ball over nine times. Schulz led the Railsplitters with five points off the bench on 2-for-7 shooting as Lincoln Memorial shot 20 percent (6-for-30) from the field and 2-for-15 from beyond the arc while being outrebounded 24-17 by the Pioneers.
Tusculum continued to build on its lead in the third quarter, as Tham and Shultz combined for the Pioneers’ first 17 points of the period. Tham made three straight layups as part of an 11-0 Tusculum run, while a three-point play by Shultz gave the Pioneers a 52-19 lead with 1:49 left in the quarter. A layup by Belton near the end of the quarter would stretch the Tusculum lead to 54-22 entering the fourth.
The Pioneers would reach their largest lead of the game at 64-28 on a basket by Cheremond with 5:53 remaining, but Tusculum would score its final field goal with 3:46 left as Lincoln Memorial scored the final seven points in the last minute to put a dent in the final margin.
Off the Tusculum bench, Cheremond scored seven points and had five rebounds in 17 minutes, while DeBusk posted a season-high four points and had two assists in 14 minutes of playing time.
Tusculum will be home for five of its next six games, starting Wednesday, Dec. 7 against UVA Wise at 5:30 p.m. at Pioneer Arena. The Cavaliers are 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the SAC heading into a home non-conference game with Winston-Salem State on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
