Wingate University broke a second-half tie with 14 unanswered points and went on to an 80-68 victory over Tusculum College in South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.

Kayla Harris finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds and Janitsha Williams added 20 points and eight boards for the Bulldogs (11-3, 7-3 SAC), who outscored the Pioneers 21-4 over a 5 1/2 minute span to turn a 51-51 tie with just under 10 minutes left into a 72-55 lead with four minutes to go.

Nequoiah Anderson matched her season and career high with 20 points and Kristen McMillion grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for the Pioneers (1-13, 1-9 SAC), who battled the Bulldogs to a draw until McMillion and leading scorer Shynese Whitener were forced to the bench with foul trouble just prior to Wingate's decisive run.

Whitener had 15 points for the Pioneers and McMillion just missed a double-double with nine points in 33 minutes, but Tusculum shot 37.1 percent from the field and lost the rebounding battle to Wingate by a 41-35 margin.

Harris shot 9-for-11 from the field and 8-for-14 from the foul line for the Bulldogs, while Sharee Boyd contributed 13 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench for Wingate. Amber Neely had eight points and eight assists as Wingate scored 42 of its 80 points in the paint.

Wingate jumped to an early 8-2 lead but a putback by McMillion and two buckets from Whitener helped pull Tusculum within 9-8 with 11:05 left in the first half. The Pioneers trailed 19-15 with 7:11 left in the half, but scored nine straight points to take their largest lead of the game at 24-19 on a three-pointer by Anderson with 5:37 remaining until halftime.

A three-point play by Whitener with seven seconds left sent the Pioneers to halftime with a 33-31 lead over the Bulldogs. Whitener led Tusculum with 11 points in the first half while McMillion had seven points and 10 rebounds. Harris led the way for the Bulldogs with 11 points and six rebounds in the first half, but Wingate committed 12 turnovers and shot 35.3 percent from the field in the half.

The teams swapped the lead several times in the first few minutes of the second half, with Tusculum earning its final lead of the day at 49-47 following a three-point play by Brianna Mitchell with 10:53 left. A Mitchell jumper knotted the game at 51-51 with 9:47 left, bu two free throws from Boyd with 9:25 left and two more from Williams with 9:04 to go triggered the decisive run for the Bulldogs.

Two free throws from Maelyn Cutshaw with 6:27 left halted the 14-0 Wingate run, but a three-pointer from Shelby Tricoli gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the day at 72-55 with 4:08 remaining. Wingate shot 60 percent (15-for-25) from the field in the second half and cashed it at the foul line by going 17-for-23 (73.9 percent) at the stripe in the second half.

McMillion's 14 rebounds marked the eighth time this season and the sixth time in the last eight games that the conference rebound leader reached double figures. McMillion is averaging 10.1 rebounds per game this season, and 11.4 boards per game in 10 conference contests.

Anderson shot 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range to reach 20 points for the fourth time in her career, three of which came against Wingate. She also equaled her career-high with a season-best seven rebounds in 31 minutes while coming off the bench for the first time this season.

Blakeley Burleson tallied eight points and a pair of steals for the Pioneers, while Mitchell had seven points and three rebounds. Overall, Tusculum went 23-for-62 from the field (37.1 percent) and hit five three-pointers in 16 attempts.

The Pioneers will be home Wednesday night against Carson-Newman in a South Atlantic Conference contest beginning at 6 p.m. at Pioneer Arena. The first-place Eagles are in sole possession of first place in the SAC at 8-2 after defeating Coker 74-56 Saturday afternoon.