King University held off a late run by Tusculum College to earn a 73-65 victory in non-conference Women's basketball action Wednesday evening at Pioneer Arena.

Chelsea Bowling scored 15 points and had six rebounds and Bonnie Durrett registered a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards for the Tornado (7-2), who earned their sixth consecutive win in part by attempting 18 more foul shots than the Pioneers and finishing with a 50-39 advantage in rebounding.

Brianna Mitchell scored a season-high 16 points to lead the Pioneers (0-9), who trailed 49-34 with 12:31 left but cut the deficit to five in the final minute before falling to the Tornado for the first time in the last eight meetings between the schools.

Kelly Jackson narrowly missed a double-double for King as she tallied 10 points and nine rebounds. The Tornado shot 37.3 percent (22-for-59) from the field as a team but thrived at the foul line, going 26-for-33 (78.8 percent) including 17-for-24 in the second half.

Nequoiah Anderson chipped in with 15 points and five rebounds for the Pioneers, who received 12 points from Blakeley Burleson and six points and a game-high 12 rebounds from Kristen McMillion. Tusculum finished the game 26-for-73 (35.6 percent) from the field but was just 9-for-15 overall from the free-throw line.

Tusculum took its only lead of the game at 3-0 on a three-pointer by Anderson on the game's opening possession, as five points from Jackson helped King turn a 7-7 tie into a 14-9 lead with 12:21 left in the first half.

The Pioneers were able to cut the deficit to a point on four different occasions later in the half, but two free throws from Bowling and baskets by Durrett and Stephanie Brantley pushed the Tornado in front 28-21 with 2:20 remaining in the half.

After a layup by Mitchell brought Tusculum back within 28-23 with exactly two minutes to go in the half, King scored seven unanswered points on a layup by Brantley, a three-pointer from Bowling and two free throws by Durrett to go on top 35-23 in the final minute. A Burleson three-pointer in the final seconds of the half sent the teams to the locker room with the Tornado holding a 35-26 lead.

Mitchell led all players with eight points in the first half for the Pioneers, while McMillion had a game-high nine rebounds. Jackson led the Tornado with seven points as 10 different players entered the scoring column in the half for King.

The Pioneers pulled within six on a three-pointer by Burleson in the opening minute of the second half, but the Tornado went on a 12-3 run to take their largest lead of the night at 49-34 on a layup by Bowling with 12:31 to go. Tusculum was able to bounce back with a 10-2 run of its own to pull within 51-44 on a basket by Shynese Whitener with 9:17 left.

Tusculum held King to one field goal in a five-minute span, while trimming the deficit down to five at 57-52 on a fast-break layup by Anderson with 4:08 left. However, a pair of empty possessions from the Pioneers combined with free throws from the Tornado pushed King's lead back to 62-52 with 3:09 to play.

McMillion connected on a putback with 1:09 left to bring Tusculum to within 64-59, but King made eight straight free throws and nine of 10 overall in the final 1:01 to salt away the win.

Whitener finished with six points to go with six rebounds and a game-high six assists before fouling out with less than 10 seconds left. Maelyn Cutshaw had a strong showing off the bench for the Pioneers, scoring a season-high eight points on 3-for-4 shooting in 17 minutes of action.

Brantley ended up with eight points and eight rebounds for the Tornado, who received eight points and four boards in 14 minutes off the bench from Alley Sprouse. Overall, the Tornado bench outscored the Pioneer reserves by a 24-10 margin.

The Pioneers return to action in the new year when they host Newberry in a South Atlantic Conference game on Friday, January 3 at 6 p.m. at Pioneer Arena. Tusculum will play its final 17 regular-season games against SAC opponents.