ANDERSON, S.C. – Anderson University women's basketball (15-12, 9-8 SAC) defensive specialist switched roles tonight as she banged home a career-high 26 points to help propel the Trojans past South Atlantic Conference Tusculum Pioneers (20-7, 11-6 SAC), 80-67, on Wednesday afternoon at the Abney Athletic Center.
"Great to defend home court and go out with a win in the last game in Abney," said head coach Jonathon Barbaree.
"Defensively I thought we played another great game against one of the best scoring teams I the conference," stated Barbaree. "Jalyn had a great offensive game tonight and we were very efficient from behind the arc."
Playing in its final home game of the season, Anderson put together a terrific performance defeating one of the top teams in the South Atlantic Conference. The Trojans jumped out on the Pioneers 23-13 after one quarter of play and was able to increase their lead going into halftime by outscoring Tusculum 23-19 in the second period.
The Black and Gold shot lights out connecting on 18-of-26 shots, including 8-of-10 from behind the arc. Despite cooling off just a bit in the third and fourth quarter, the Trojans played solid defense and won the battle of the boards, 37-30.
Anderson enjoyed its biggest lead of the game at 19 points with 8:57 left in the quarter, before the Pioneers began to whittle away at the deficit. Tusculum cut the lead to 10 points with 4:24 remaining, ending the quarter still down by double-digits.
The Pioneers cut the lead to nine points in the fourth period of play, but AU pushed back and maintained a comfortable 10-to-12 point cushion for the remaining of the game to win by, 80-67.
For the game, Anderson shot 55.1% (27-49) from the field, 71.4% (10-14) and 76.2% (16-21) from the free throw line.
Right behind Spurlin's career-high 26 points, was senior Brittney Stafford's season-high 25 points. Stafford dished out two assists, had two steals and shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line. Senior Britney Bailey recorded her third straight double-double and seventh on the season dropping in 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sophomore Diamond McDowell narrowly missed her 11th double-double chipping in nine points and hauling in nine rebounds.
Tusculum's Jami Tham led all-scorer's with 27 points, while Blayre Shultz and Mya Belton scored 17 and 10, respectively.
Anderson finishes up its regular season play on the road at Mars Hill on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 2 pm.
