GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Tusculum University cut a 17-point deficit to four in the final 4 1/2 minutes, but fell 68-63 to King University in non-conference women’s basketball Wednesday evening at Pioneer Arena.
The Pioneers (0-5) trailed 58-41 with 4:23 remaining, but outscored the Tornado (2-4) by a 22-9 margin over the next four minutes to trail 67-63 with under 10 seconds left. Ema Nagyova scored all 10 of her points in the final quarter while Aisha Patel had nine of her team and season-high 14 points in the fourth to spark the comeback attempt. Patel also had seven rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench for the Pioneers.
Alayna Smith led King with 14 points and 15 rebounds, with Mary Elizabeth Fox adding a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench. King shot 34.8 percent (23-for-66) from the field but outrebounded Tusculum by a 56-38 margin, including 24 offensive boards. Aliyah Hawkins also reached double figures for the Tornado with 13 points along with a game-high five assists.
The Pioneers had four players in double figures, with Angela Gomez reaching a career high for the second straight game with 12 points in 31 minutes and Martina Garofalo adding a season-best 12 points. The Pioneers were 34.5 percent (20-for-58) from the field but sank eight three-pointers in 19 attempts, including three from Patel and two apiece from Nagyova and Gomez.
King helped keep Tusculum in the game by shooting 17-for-33 (51.5 percent) from the foul line, including 10-for-19 in the fourth quarter, while the Pioneers were 15-for-23 at the stripe. The Tornado were 5-for-26 from three-point range as a team, led by Jaelyn West who was 3-for-7 from long range to account for her nine points.
The Tornado bolted to a 10-0 lead as the Pioneers missed their first five shots before scoring on a Gomez layup with 4:17 left in the first quarter. Gomez ended the first quarter in style by drilling a three-pointer from just beyond midcourt at the end of the period to cut the deficit to 14-11. King built its lead to 30-19 with 2:43 left in the second quarter on an 8-1 run, but a free throw from Smith would be the only point for the final two minutes of the period as the Tornado carried a 31-21 lead to intermission.
Gomez was 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from three-point range in the first half and led all players with 10 points, with Abbi Douglas adding six points and four rebounds for the Pioneers as part of a 27.3 percent (6-for-22) shooting effort in the half. Fox paced the Tornado with seven points and eight rebounds as King shot 31.6 percent (12-for-38) but had 13 offensive rebounds as a team as part of a 27-18 rebound edge over Tusculum.
King went up 43-28 on a layup by Riley Nelson with 3:22 left in the third quarter, with a three-point play from Garofalo with 0.3 seconds left cutting the Tornado lead to 46-34 heading to the fourth. Two free throws from Fox with 6:14 remaining gave King its largest lead of the night at 56-38, but two three-pointers from Patel and one from Nagyova trimmed the margin to 58-47 with 3:40 to go. Patel would sink three foul shots with 1:39 to play to bring Tusculum within 62-52, and while King was going 4-for-8 at the foul line the Pioneers got another three from Nagyova with 16.9 seconds left to pull within 66-61. After Hawkins split a pair at the stripe with 13.8 to play, Nagyova sank a pair with 8.9 remaining to bring Tusculum to within 67-63. However, Le’Aije Ellington made a free throw with 5.4 seconds to play to close the scoring.
Douglas had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds in 23 minutes for the Pioneers before fouling out with 6:14 to go. Dora Van Rijs had six rebounds and three steals in 23 minutes and also departed on her fifth foul with 2:12 left.
The Pioneers will return to the road to play at Wingate on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at Cuddy Arena. The Bulldogs (4-2, 0-1 SAC) dropped their South Atlantic Conference opener at UVA Wise on Wednesday by a 69-54 score.
