Saturday, January 12, 2008

TUSCULUM WOMEN RALLY TO DEFEAT CATAWBA 85-70, PIONEERS WIN NINTH IN A ROW

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum overcame an 11-point deficit in the opening half and claimed an 85-70 win over visiting Catawba in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena. Pioneers improve to 12-2 overall and 3-0 in the SAC while claiming its ninth consecutive victory. The Catawba Indians fall to 6-8 and 0-3.

Stephany Neptune led the Pioneers with 21 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. Shantae Shank followed with 16 points off the bench, while Jasmine Parker added 13 and Ashli Oliver tossed in a dozen markers. NeKeithia Howard had 17 points for the Lady Indians with Sicilia LoSauro adding 15 points.

Catawba used a strong shooting performance in the opening half to take a 34-31 lead at the break. The Lady Indians shot 50 percent and trailed only briefly in the opening minutes. A basket by Keisha Long put Catawba up 6-4 and the visitors would hold the lead until the opening minute of the second half.

The largest lead for Catawba would be at 11 points which it held at 34-23 with 3:15 left in the half. Tusculum would reel off the final eight points before the break and capped a 12-0 run to take the lead on a bucket by Neptune just over a minute into the final half.

After Hillary Hampton hit a pair of free throws with 16:08 remaining to put Catawba on top 44-40 Tusculum would run off 10 straight points and led the rest of the way. Neptune made two of the baskets, while Shank added six points in the run.

Catawba dropped off to just 35 percent shooting in the second half, finishing at 41.8 percent. Tusculum hit on 34-of-72 for 47.2 percent, including 54.3 percent in the final half. The Pioneers held a 45-37 edge on the boards and had just 11 turnovers (two in the second half) to 16 for Catawba.

Tusculum, which entered the game as the league’s top producer of three-point field goals, was limited to only one trey in its 13 long-range attempts. Tusculum went to its inside game as the Pioneers converted 62 points in the paint and converted 20 fast-break points.

Neptune shot 10-for-15 from the floor and blocked four shots for the Pioneers.

Tusculum will step out of league play on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. contest at Converse College. Catawba hosts Brevard College in a non-SAC contest on Wednesday at 6 p.m. from Goodman Gym.

The Pioneers’ nine-game winning streak matches the fourth-longest in school history. TC also claimed its eighth consecutive home victory and is off to its first 12-2 start since the 1994-95 campaign. Neptune’s 19 rebounds are the seventh-best board tally ever by a Pioneer.

- TC –

Catawba SID Jim Lewis contributed to this release