GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Graycie Poe sank six three-pointers and scored a game-high 28 points as Limestone University rallied in the second half for a 77-72 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
Poe also had 10 rebounds for a double-double, as did Kalisha Hill who had 14 points and a game-high 11 boards for the Saints (6-7, 2-7 SAC). Limestone outrebounded Tusculum 54-38 in the game and outscored the Pioneers 47-32 in the second half after trailing by 10 at intermission.
Ni’Kiah Chesterfield paced Tusculum (5-8, 3-6 SAC) with 15 points and Abbi Douglas finished with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Pioneers, who shot 33.8 percent (25-for-74) from the field in a game that featured seven ties and 14 lead changes.
Poe gave Limestone the lead for good on a three-pointer with 3:04 remaining as the Saints finished the game on a 14-5 run after trailing 67-63 with 4:23 left. Limestone was 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final two minutes, 10-for-11 in the fourth quarter and 14-for-19 for the game at the stripe while Tusculum was 15-for-24 after making its first nine attempts.
Dior Shelton and Reagan Kargo each scored 10 points for the Saints, while Jenna Kallenberg and Carleigh Wilson had nine points and five rebounds apiece for the Pioneers and Zoe Sharpe added a season-high nine points in 27 minutes off the Tusculum bench.
Limestone scored the first five points on a three-pointer from Poe and a jumper from Kargo, but Tusculum answered with seven straight to go up 7-5 on a three-pointer from Monique Shim with 5:47 left in the first quarter. A basket by Kargo put Limestone back on top 16-11 with 33 seconds left, but two free throws from Chesterfield brought the Pioneers within 16-13 after one quarter.
Tusculum ran off 10 straight points early in the second quarter to build a 25-18 lead, bookended by three-pointers from Wilson and Kallenberg. The Pioneers took their largest lead at 33-22 on a three-pointer from Wilson with 3:28 left in the half, and a late layup from Angela Gomez sent Tusculum to intermission with a 40-30 lead.
Wilson was 3-for-5 from three-point range and led the Pioneers with nine points in the first half, with eight points from Chesterfield. Tusculum shot 37.1 percent (13-for-35) from the field and 5-for-11 from beyond the arc in the half. Poe was 3-for-4 from deep and led all players with 11 points in the first half for Limestone, which was at 41.9 percent (13-for-31) and 4-for-14 from long range.
Tusculum led 46-39 following a fast-break layup from Shim with 6:17 to go in the third quarter, but Limestone responded with nine in a row to go up 48-46 on a bucket from Aniyah Jones with 3:59 remaining. Kallenberg tied the game with a layup out of a timeout, and Sharpe scored five points in the final 2:11 of the quarter to push Tusculum in front 54-51 heading to the fourth.
Chesterfield put the Pioneers in front 59-56 on a layup with 8:38 left, but the Saints came back to knot the game at 61-61 on a steal and layup by Poe with 7:39 to play. After a layup from Shelton put Limestone on top 63-62 with 5:51 left, the Pioneers went back ahead as Douglas made a three-pointer with 4:58 remaining and added two free throws with 4:23 left for a 67-63 Tusculum lead. However, consecutive threes from Shelton and Poe sparked an 8-0 Limestone run that put Limestone ahead 71-67 with 1:57 to play. The Pioneers would have two shots for the tie in the final 30 seconds, but both were off-target and Limestone put the game away on free throws from Jones and Hill.
Tusculum was 7-for-25 as a team from three-point range while Limestone was 9-for-26 from beyond the arc. The Pioneers had a season-low eight turnovers and forced the Saints into 20 turnovers, while Tusculum had a 16-4 edge in fast-break points and a 25-11 lead in bench scoring.
The Pioneers will visit Emory & Henry on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 5:30 p.m. The Wasps (5-10, 0-9 SAC) dropped their third in a row on Saturday with an 82-73 home setback to Anderson. Listen to Pioneer basketball on 95.5FM WSMG Wednesday beginning at 5:15pm.
