PIONEERS STOP CAVALIERS
Jami Tham scored 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Tusculum to a 75-59 South Atlantic Conference women's basketball victory over UVA Wise at Pioneer Arena Wednesday afternoon. The Pioneers connected on 12 made three-pointers in the win while shooting 45.2 percent from the field in the contest.
Tusculum (8-1, 2-0 SAC) closed the first quarter on a 16-to-8 scoring run to erase an early six-point UVA Wise (6-2, 1-1 SAC). The Pioneers would not trail again in the contest as Meagan Price's team would build the advantage to as many as 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Cavaliers would get the deficit to five at intermission, thanks to a 9-0 scoring spurt to close the half. Josie Hester scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the first 20 minutes while Caitlyn Ross tallied 11 of her 18 points in the half. The duo combined to score seven of the nine points in the stretch while Katlin Burger added a bucket off a Ross assist to account for the nine points.
After Tusculum's Blayre Shultz and Hester traded 3-pointers in the opening moments of the second half, the Pioneers would embark on a 10-to-3 scoring run to push the lead to double digits at 50-39 with 5:53 to play in the third quarter.
From that point on, UVA Wise would get no closer than seven points over the remainder of the contest as Tusculum claimed its sixth consecutive victory.
The double-double by Tham was her ninth consecutive to start the year; Shultz joined Hester for game-high scoring honors with 19 while Mya Belton made five 3-pointers en route to 15 points and Alyssa Walker chipped in 13 in the win.
Burger was the only other Cav to finish in double figures as she tallied 10 points. As a team, UVA Wise committed 22 turnovers and was limited to 37.5 percent shooting, including a 9-for-27 showing in the second half.
Ross added eight assists to her stat line while Leah Kestner grabbed a team-high six rebounds and blocked a career-best three shots in defeat.
Next up, UVA Wise visits Carson-Newman Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. from Mossy Creek and the action can be heard live on FM 92.5 (wlsdradio.com)
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