WISE, Va. — Jenna Kallenberg drilled a tiebreaking three-pointer with 1:11 left and Tusculum University went on to an 85-83 victory over UVA Wise in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball Wednesday night at the Prior Convocation Center.
Ni’Kiah Chesterfield scored a game-high 27 points and added eight rebounds and a career-high five assists for the Pioneers (7-11, 5-9 SAC), who shot 52.2 percent (35-for-67) from the field including 10-for-16 in the fourth quarter. Five players reached double figures for the Pioneers, with Abbi Douglas adding 15 points, five rebounds and a season-high five steals. Jalyn Spurlin and Carleigh Wilson each had 10 points and nine rebounds and Zoe Sharpe scored 10 points for the Pioneers.
Sable Burnside paced the Cavaliers (8-10, 5-9 SAC) with 23 points and seven rebounds and Ella Karst added 21 points off the bench for UVA Wise, which shot just 34.6 percent (28-for-81) from the field but went 21-for-24 at the foul line. Caroline Mullins had 16 points and six rebounds and Makenzie Bremer finished with 10 points and nine boards for the Cavaliers, who trailed nearly the entire game by as many as 11 points before rallying to tie the game at 79-79 with 1:33 to go.
Kallenberg’s go-ahead three-pointer were her only points of the game, but helped Tusculum earn its third win in its last four road games. Wilson sank two free throws in the closing seconds to give the Pioneers breathing room, but Tusculum shot just 12-for-20 at the foul line in the game as a team. Tusculum outrebounded UVA Wise 50-41 but the Pioneers committed 25 turnovers which led to 30 points for the Cavaliers.
Chesterfield, who entered the game as the leading scorer in the SAC at 18.4 points per game, shot 11-for-16 from the field and 5-for-6 at the foul line to reach the 20-point mark for the sixth time this season. Her five assists surpassed her previous career high of four, which she set four times. Douglas, who moved within 15 points of 1,000 for her college career, was 6-for-7 from the field and made a key foul shot in the final seconds.
UVA Wise had its only lead of the game at 3-0 on a three-pointer on the opening possession from Jalie Ruehling, as Chesterfield scored six early points to give the Pioneers an 8-6 lead three minutes into the game. Chesterfield would score 12 points in the opening period, which ended with a basket from Angela Gomez that gave Tusculum a 22-13 lead.
After a layup from Spurlin gave Tusculum a 24-15 lead in the first minute of the second quarter, the Pioneers would go scoreless for four minutes before a putback from Wilson put Tusculum on top 26-20 with 5:32 to go in the half. A nine-point Pioneer lead would shrink to 33-32 on a layup from Mullins with 1:26 remaining, but Tusculum headed to the half holding a 37-34 advantage.
Chesterfield led the Pioneers with 14 points and five rebounds in the first half, while Douglas had eight points as Tusculum shot 43.8 percent (14-for-32) from the field as a team. Mullins paced the Cavaliers with 12 points and Karst chipped in with nine off the bench as UVA Wise shot 10-for-33 (30.3 percent) from the floor. Burnside had just four points in the first half on 1-for-7 shooting for UVA Wise.
Tusculum stretched its lead to 45-34 on back-to-back baskets from Douglas in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the third quarter, but a 10-2 run from UVA Wise was capped by a Karst three-pointer that brought the Cavaliers within 47-44 with 4:19 left. UVA Wise briefly took a 54-53 lead on a Burnside basket with 1:38 remaining, but two field goals from Sharpe in the final 90 seconds gave Tusculum a 59-56 advantage after three quarters.
Two free throws from Burnside cut the Tusculum lead to 61-60 with 8:36 left, but Chesterfield responded with a jumper and a three-point play for a 66-60 Pioneer lead with 8:01 to play. Tusculum continued to lead 77-71 with 2:54 remaining, only to see Wise tie the game at 77-77 following back-to-back three-point plays from Bremer and Alissa Cheek, the latter with 2:07 left.
Douglas put Tusculum back ahead 79-77 on a layup with 1:59 left, but two free throws from Burnside locked the game at 79-79 with 1:33 to play. After Kallenberg’s go-ahead three with 1:11 remaining, Karst missed a jumper with 51 seconds left and the Pioneers got the rebound. Douglas made one free throw with 12.4 seconds remaining for an 83-79 Tusculum advantage.
Bremer scored on a putback with 6.8 seconds remaining to pull the Cavaliers back within 83-81, but Wilson drilled two foul shots with 5.8 seconds left to make it a two-possession lead. Karst scored on a putback as time expired to set the final score.
Gomez scored six points in 11 minutes off the bench for the Pioneers, while Cheek had seven points, four boards and four steals for the Cavaliers. UVA Wise, which leads the conference in bench scoring at 28.9 points per game, received 31 points from its subs while Tusculum had 20 points off the bench.
Tusculum is a half-game out of eighth place in the SAC standings, tied at 5-9 with UVA Wise and their next opponent, Lenoir-Rhyne. The Pioneers and Bears will meet Saturday at 2 p.m. at Pioneer Arena, with the Bears having won the earlier meeting at home 91-78 on December 7.
