GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Jennifer Sullivan scored 24 points to lead Carson-Newman University to a 71-53 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball Wednesday evening at Pioneer Arena.
The Eagles (5-3, 2-1 SAC) held the Pioneers (0-7, 0-3 SAC) to 26.1 percent (16-for-57) from the field in the game while outrebounding Tusculum by a 52-37 margin, including 24 offensive rebounds.
Sullivan was 4-for-9 on three-pointers for the Eagles and scored 17 of her points in the first half to help Carson-Newman build a 36-23 lead. Mattie Nuckolls had 10 points and six rebounds while Chloe Heath added 10 points and seven boards in 24 minutes off the bench.
Abbi Douglas led Tusculum with a season-high 23 points along with seven rebounds, with Aisha Patel adding nine points and Julia Szwichtenberg eight points and five rebounds. Dora Van Rijs had 10 rebounds along with five points and five steals for the Pioneers, who were 3-for-19 from three-point range but shot 18-for-24 (75 percent) at the foul line.
Douglas was 9-for-18 from the field, including a three-pointer, and hit 4-for-5 at the foul line for the Pioneers, while Patel dropped her nine points in just 12 minutes of playing time. Szwichtenberg was 6-for-8 at the stripe and had four of her five rebounds on the offensive glass.
Tusculum went up 3-2 early as Douglas hit a three-pointer, and a three from Ema Nagyova knotted the score at 6-6 with 6:19 left in the opening quarter. A 7-0 run was capped by a three-point play by Van Rijs to give Tusculum a 13-10 lead with 1:45 left, and a late free throw from Szwichtenberg put the Pioneers on top 14-12 after one period. Carson-Newman was 0-for-8 on three-pointers and shot 30 percent overall (6-for-20) in the quarter.
Back-to-back buckets from Douglas put Tusculum ahead for the final time at 21-18 with 6:17 left in the first half, but that would be the final field goal of the half for the Pioneers as the Eagles ran off an 18-2 run to end the quarter. Angela Gomez made her second 55-foot buzzer-beater in the last three games for Tusculum, but the shot came after the buzzer and Carson-Newman went to the locker room with a 36-23 lead.
Sullivan had a game-high 17 points for the Eagles, who shot 37.8 percent (14-for-37) from the field and 5-for-16 on three-pointers. Keeleigh Rogers added six points and eight rebounds and Heath and Karli Haworth had four points apiece for Carson-Newman. Douglas led the Pioneers with seven points and Patel chipped in with five as Tusculum shot 24.1 percent (7-for-29) overall.
The Pioneers trimmed the deficit to 38-31 on a jumper from Martina Garofalo with 6:22 remaining in the third quarter, but Carson-Newman would outscore Tusculum 13-4 the rest of the quarter to build a 51-35 lead after three quarters. Douglas had a big fourth quarter for the Pioneers, collecting 12 of the team’s 18 points in the frame.
Rogers led all players with 11 rebounds and added six points and three assists for the Eagles, who scored 24 points off 14 Tusculum turnovers. Haworth had seven points in 18 minutes off the bench as Carson-Newman’s reserves outscored the Tusculum bench by a 29-17 margin.
The Pioneers will play their final home game of the 2025 portion of their schedule on Saturday, Dec. 13 against Catawba, beginning at 5 p.m. at Pioneer Arena. Saturday’s game has been designated as Community Night with free admission to the contest between the Pioneers and Indians, who dropped to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the SAC with a 78-72 loss at Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday.
