GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lenoir-Rhyne University shot 69 percent from the field in the second half and outscored Tusculum University 52-30 in the second half as the Bears defeated the Pioneers 80-56 in the quarterfinal round of the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship tournament Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena.
The Bears (22-7) advance to face Catawba in the semifinal round on Saturday at Timmons Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, while the Pioneers (20-9) lost for just the second time in nine all-time SAC quarterfinal home games. Tusculum shot 30.0 percent (21-for-70) from the field and 2-for-23 from three-point range, despite receiving game highs of 25 points and 11 rebounds from Jami Tham for her 26th double-double of the season.
Lenoir-Rhyne shot a perfect 11-for-11 from the field in the fourth quarter and went 18-for-20 from the foul line in the game. The Bears finished at 51.7 percent (30-for-58) from the floor and all six of their players who reached the scoring column finished in double figures, led by Blaikley Crooks who had 17 points and eight rebounds.
Alyssa Walker finished with 14 points and five rebounds for the Pioneers, who trailed 28-26 at halftime before being outscored 24-8 during the third quarter. Tusculum shot 4-for-21 (19 percent) from the field during the third, with Tham accounting for all eight of the Pioneers' points in the period.
Brandi Hudson was 4-for-4 from the field and 8-for-8 from the foul line and scored 16 points in 15 minutes off the bench for the Bears, while Azariah Fields had 14 points, six rebounds and seven assists and Emily Harman added 12 points and seven rebounds. Jalen Gathers contributed 11 points and five assists for Lenoir-Rhyne and Hannah Stull was the sixth in double figures with 10 points to go along with seven boards.
The Bears missed their first three shots after a jumper by Tham on the Pioneers' opening possession, but six straight points gave Lenoir-Rhyne an 8-4 lead following a layup by Fields with 3:53 remaining in the first quarter. Tusculum would battle back and use a 6-0 run to go ahead 12-10 on a basket by Tham with 1:05 left in the quarter, but Crooks hit two free throws with 43 seconds left to leave the game tied at 12 after a quarter.
In the second quarter, the teams would combine to go 4 1/2 minutes without a field goal and Tusculum went 3 1/2 minutes without a point as Lenoir-Rhyne used a 9-1 run to go up 21-13 on a jumper by Crooks with 4:38 left in the half. Tusculum responded with an 8-1 run from Walker exclusively, as she hit back-to-back three-pointers and then sank two free throws to bring the Pioneers within 25-24 with 1:32 remaining. A foul just before the halftime buzzer would give Gathers a chance to make one of two at the line and give the Bears a 28-26 lead at intermission.
Walker led the Pioneers with 11 points in the first half while Tham had eight points and three rebounds. Tusculum shot 32.1 percent (9-for-28) and went 2-for-10 from three-point range in the half as a team. The Bears had Crooks and Fields with six points in the opening half and the other four scorers with four apiece, as the Bears hit just 34.5 percent (10-for-29) from the floor.
Tusculum tied the game at 28-28 on a layup by Tham on its first possession of the third quarter, but back-to-back baskets from Harman and Crooks put Lenoir-Rhyne up 32-28 with 8:48 remaining in the quarter. A Tham basket with 7:41 left brought the Pioneers within 35-32, but the Bears would run off 13 straight points to go up 48-32 on a three-pointer from Gathers with 3:44 remaining. Tham ended the Tusculum scoring drought at more than five minutes on a third-chance putback with 2:29 left, but two free throws from Hudson with six seconds left put the Bears on top 52-34 heading to the final period.
The Bears' lead would sit between 14 and 20 points for nearly the entire fourth quarter, with late baskets from Stull and Crooks stretching Lenoir-Rhyne's lead to its largest at 24 points at the final horn. Hudson scored 10 points in the final quarter for the Bears, while Tham had nine points and four rebounds for the Pioneers in the fourth.
Deidre Cheremond came off the Tusculum bench to score eight points and grab three rebounds in 17 minutes. Tusculum was outrebounded 44-38 by Lenoir-Rhyne, but the Pioneers had 18 offensive rebounds that they turned into 16 second-chance points. Lenoir-Rhyne's bench outscored Tusculum's 27-8.
