BELMONT, N.C. --- Jenna Kallenberg connected on five three-pointers and scored a game-high 17 points as Tusculum University defeated North Greenville University 54-47 Saturday afternoon at the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas Women's Basketball Challenge at the Wheeler Center.
Alyssa Walker added 12 points and seven rebounds and Mya Belton grabbed a game-high 11 boards for the Pioneers (1-1), who limited the Crusaders (0-2) to 29.2 percent shooting (19-for-65) in the game. Haylee Luttrell was the lone player to reach double figures for North Greenville, finishing with 11 points.
Tusculum never trailed in the game, leading by as many as 20 points midway through the third quarter before North Greenville rallied to within five in the final minute. Chloe Warrington contributed eight points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Pioneers, while Aniecia Malone was the top-scoring sub for the Crusaders with eight points in 21 minutes.
Kallenberg went 5-for-8 from three-point range for the Pioneers, while Warrington was 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. However, Tusculum finished just 9-for-35 (25.7 percent) on three-pointers and shot 31.3 percent (20-for-64) overall against North Greenville. Belton added seven points to go along with her 11 rebounds for Tusculum, with Jalia Arnwine tying her career high with eight rebounds. Tusculum outrebounded North Greenville 46-44 in the game, and scored 13 second-chance points off 11 offensive boards.
Saturday's game against North Greenville was reminiscent of Friday's season opener for Tusculum, a 49-48 loss to Belmont Abbey in which the Pioneers shot 31.4 percent as a team while holding the host Crusaders to 28.6 percent from the floor. Through two games, Tusculum is holding its opponents to 28.9 percent shooting from the field and 48.0 points per game.
Neither team scored for the first 1:51 as Tusculum went 0-for-5 from the field and North Greenville was 0-for-2 with two turnovers. Tusculum scored the game's first points on a three-pointer by Kallenberg, while the defense held North Greenville without a point for four minutes en route to an 11-4 lead on a basket by Elle Hutchinson with 2:01 left in the first. Tusculum led 14-7 after one quarter as North Greenville shot just 15.4 percent (2-for-13) from the field and turned the ball over nine times in the opening period.
Tusculum expanded its lead to 17-7 on a three-pointer by Belton on the opening possession of the second quarter, but two free throws from Tolisha Walker and a three-pointer by Abi Oates brought the Crusaders within 17-12 with 9:07 left in the half. Tusculum responded with an 8-0 run, including a layup by Walker and three-pointers from Warrington and Kallenberg to build a 25-12 lead with 5:34 left in the half, which would end with Tusculum holding a 30-17 lead.
Walker led all players with eight points and had five rebounds in the first half for Tusculum, with six points apiece from Kallenberg and Warrington. The Pioneers shot 34.4 percent (11-for-32) from the field in the opening half and 6-for-17 from three-point range, while North Greenville hit just 17.2 percent (5-for-29) from the floor and 3-for-12 from beyond the arc. Luttrell led the Crusaders with five points in the opening half.
After Luttrell scored the first basket of the second half for North Greenville, Kallenberg went on a personal 9-0 run as she hit three straight three-pointers to give Tusculum its largest lead at 39-19 with 6:24 left in the third quarter. After a Walker putback put the Pioneers ahead 41-21 with 5:46 to play in the period, the Pioneers would miss their next eight shots with four turnovers before Walker scored on the final shot of the quarter to send Tusculum to the fourth with a 43-30 lead.
The Pioneers still led by double figures at 49-38 with 4:05 left following a basket by Warrington, but Tusculum would go cold from the field as North Greenville chipped away on a layup by Jykya Bell with 2:28 left and a three-pointer from Oates with 1:20 to play, which brought the Crusaders within 52-45. A putback by Tolisha Walker with seven seconds left trimmed the Tusculum lead to five, but Kallenberg put the game away by hitting a pair of foul shots.
The Tusculum point guard tandem of starter Sophie Henry (25 minutes) and reserve Jordan Rogers (15 minutes) went scoreless on six shot attempts, but teamed up for 12 assists, two turnovers and four steals. Henry had seven assists and two rebounds, while Rogers had five assists and three boards for the Pioneers.
For North Greenville, Walker ended the game with seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds on 2-for-10 shooting, while Glass had seven points and Oates had six on a pair of three-pointers. North Greenville was 5-for-22 from three-point range and did not attempt a foul shot in the second half after going 4-for-4 in the first half.
Tusculum will return home to play its SAC opener against Carson-Newman on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. The Eagles are the defending SAC regular-season champion, having beaten out the Pioneers by a half-game for the top spot a year ago. In the only meeting between the squads last season, Carson-Newman eked out a 69-66 double-overtime victory at Tusculum on Jan. 20, handing the Pioneers their first loss of the season following nine victories to open the year.
