TUSCULUM WINS AT VIRGINIA STATE 70-57, PIONEERS POST SIXTH STRAIGHT VICTORY

ETTRICK, Va. ---Jasmine Gunn paced four players in double-figures as Tusculum College defeated host Virginia State University 70-57 Saturday afternoon in women’s basketball action.

Gunn, a freshman from Antioch, Tenn., nearly recorded a triple-double as she added nine rebounds and eight assists as the Pioneers (9-2) posted their sixth straight win.

Stephany Neptune tallied her third consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. It was also Neptune’s seventh double-double of the season. Ashli Oliver and Nikki Van Dine added 11 points each, while Brittni Oliver recorded seven markers.

Katania Walker led VSU (3-5) with 14 points, while Leilani LeGrand accounted for 13 points off the bench.

Trailing 6-0 to start the game, the Pioneers rattled off a 12-0 run, including five points each by Gunn and Van Dine as TC wouldn’t trail for the remainder of the afternoon.

Tusculum carried a 34-28 into the intermission and used a 9-0 spurt in the second period to up its lead to an 18-point margin as the Pioneers have posted its longest winning streak since becoming a NCAA Division II member (1998). The last time the Pioneers won six in a row was during the 1996-97 campaign en route to a 20-10 mark.

The Pioneers return to action next Saturday night when TC opens its South Atlantic Conference schedule at Lenoir-Rhyne.

- TC -