GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — An 8-0 run midway through the fourth quarter lifted Catawba College to an 88-77 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball Wednesday evening at Pioneer Arena.
Saniya Wilson more than doubled her previous season high with 26 points off the bench for the Indians (7-3, 5-2 SAC), who won their fourth straight game by breaking the 11th and final tie of the evening in the final six minutes.
Ni’Kiah Chesterfield paced the Pioneers (4-6, 2-4 SAC) with 26 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Chesterfield shot 11-for-18 from the field and registered her fourth 20-point game of the season to maintain her scoring lead in the SAC at 19.8 points per game.
Wilson, who played 26 minutes, hit 6-for-11 from the field, including two three-pointers, and went 12-for-13 from the foul line for the Indians. Janiya Foskey added her third double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Bailee Goodlett and Nala Baker scored 13 points apiece.
Jalyn Spurlin had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes off the bench for the Pioneers, with Abbi Douglas also reaching double figures with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the field. As a team, Tusculum shot 43.1 percent (28-for-65) from the floor, including six three-pointers, and 15-for-23 from the foul line.
Catawba ended the game slightly behind Tusculum in shooting at 42.9 percent (30-for-70), but the Indians were 8-for-20 from long range and 20-for-28 at the foul line, aided by an 8-for-12 effort in the second half.
The teams combined to miss their first seven shot attempts until a layup from Chesterfield with 8:34 left in the first quarter. Catawba used a 9-2 run to take a 14-7 lead on a steal and layup from Brooklin Ingram with 5:03 left in the quarter, but the Pioneers fought back to within an point at 18-17 on a three-pointer by Chesterfield with 2:14 remaining. A three from Wilson with 1:02 left gave Catawba a 23-19 lead that they carried into the second period.
The Indians would take their largest lead of the first half at 30-20 on a three-pointer from Baker with 8:25 remaining, but the Pioneers answered with a 12-1 run that featured a three-pointer from Monique Shim and a three-point play from Zoe Sharpe. A Chesterfield layup put the Pioneers on top 32-31 with 5:06 until halftime, and another bucket from Chesterfield wrapped up a 19-3 surge for Tusculum with 1:39 to go. Catawba would run off five straight points to pull within one, but a free throw from Carleigh Wilson gave Tusculum a 40-38 lead at intermission.
Chesterfield led the Pioneers with 16 points in the first half, but was the only player in double figures as Tusculum shot 42.1 percent (16-for-38) as a team. Wilson had 10 points off the bench for Catawba, with nine points from Baker and eight from Foskey as the Indians were at 40.5 percent (15-for-37) in the half.
The third quarter featured seven ties and 10 lead changes, with Tusculum using a 9-0 run to take a 56-49 lead on a layup by Chesterfield with 4:49 left in the quarter. Catawba would regain the lead at 60-59 on back-to-back layups by Foskey, the latter with 2:41 remaining, but the Pioneers went back on top 65-64 on a Spurlin layup with 1:36 left, and closed the quarter with a 66-64 lead thanks to a Josie Horner foul shot with 0.3 seconds to play.
The lead would bounce between the teams for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, with Tusculum tying the contest at 72-72 on a Spurlin basket with 6:13 left. Wilson would convert a three-point play on the Indians’ next possession, and Goodlett followed with a three-pointer to stretch the lead to 78-72 with 5:08 remaining. The Pioneers went four minutes without a field goal and would get no closer than five in the final five minutes.
Both teams finished the game with 42 rebounds, while Tusculum had 19 turnovers and Catawba finished with 15. The Pioneers had a 26-5 edge in fast-break points, but the Indians led in second-chance points by a 14-6 margin.
Jenna Kallenberg had eight points and six rebounds in 28 minutes for the Pioneers, while Ingram had seven points and Sydney Gueterman added six for the Indians in primarily first-half minutes.
Tusculum will play its final two games of the 2024 portion of its schedule on the road, beginning Saturday, Dec. 14 with a 3 p.m. contest at Coker. The Cobras were receiving votes in both the WBCA and D2CSC national polls entering the week, but Coker took its first loss of the season on Wednesday by an 81-78 margin at Anderson to fall to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the SAC.
