GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Young Harris College opened the second half with a 19-0 run and went on to defeat Tusculum University 72-48 in non-conference women’s basketball Wednesday evening at Pioneer Arena.
Kamryn Bates scored a game-high 17 points and Annalise Malone had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Mountain Lions (2-1), who outrebounded the Pioneers (0-3) by a 59-28 margin and held Tusculum to 29.2 percent (19-for-65) from the field in the game. Rhiannon Saller had eight points and 12 rebounds for Young Harris, which outscored Tusculum 44-17 in the second half after trailing by three points at the half.
Dora Van Rijs led the Pioneers with 10 points and seven rebounds, with Josie Horner and Abbi Douglas scoring eight points apiece. The Pioneers were 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) from three-point range but forced the Mountain Lions into 23 turnovers, which Tusculum turned into 19 points.
Bates shot 7-for-12 from the field for the Mountain Lions in 33 minutes of playing time, while Malone was 7-for-13 from the floor including a pair of three-pointers. Overall, Young Harris was 29-for-63 (46.0 percent) from the field and 4-for-18 on three-pointers, while outscoring Tusculum 46-16 in the paint.
Young Harris scored the game’s first 10 points, including four from Malone, before Tusculum got on the board on a jumper by Van Rijs with 4:31 left in the first quarter. Tusculum would claw back to within 12-9 on a jumper by Horner with 2:39 remaining, but Malone drilled a three-pointer with 26 seconds left to put Young Harris on top 15-9 after one period.
Tusculum ran off eight straight points to take its first lead at 17-15 on a layup by Angela Gomez with 8:21 to go in the first half, but a 10-2 run put the Mountain Lions back ahead 28-21 with 2:55 to play in the half. The Pioneers came back with another run to close the half, with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Ema Nagyova giving the Pioneers a 31-28 lead at the break.
Douglas and Martina Garofalo shared the team lead in scoring for the Pioneers with six points apiece in the first half, while Malone led the Mountain Lions with nine points. Tusculum was 13-for-31 (23.5 percent) from the field as a team and Young Harris shot 35.7 percent (10-for-28) from the floor in the opening half. Young Harris outrebounded Tusculum 22-15 in the first half, but turned the ball over 13 times which led to 13 points for the Pioneers.
Horner made a basket on the first possession of the third quarter for the Pioneers to push Tusculum’s lead to 33-28, but the Pioneers would go more than 6 1/2 minutes without a point as the Mountain Lions reeled off 19 straight points. Young Harris was 9-for-12 from the field during the run, which included eight points from Bates, five from Malone and four from Saller. Neale would break the drought of 12 straight misses on a three-pointer with 2:35 left in the third quarter, but the Mountain Lions finished off the quarter by outscoring the Pioneers 25-9 to go ahead 53-37 entering the fourth. Young Harris would lead by as many as 25 points in the final frame.
Garofolo finished with six points, six rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes off the bench for the Pioneers, who received three-pointers from fellow reserves Nagyova, Artasia Cole and Aisha Patel. Joy Tchamabe had nine points and 17 rebounds in 12 minutes for Young Harris, while Chassidy Fedd scored eight points and had four boards in 19 minutes off the Mountain Lions bench.
Tusculum will break until the start of South Atlantic Conference play on Saturday, Nov. 29 against fourth-ranked Coker. The Cobras, who advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history last season, are off to a 3-0 start after picking up a 74-52 win over Barton on Wednesday night.
