BRISTOL, Tenn. --- The King University women's basketball team scored 11 unanswered points in a five minute span in the second half to lead the Tornado to a 67-58 win over Tusculum College in the final game of the 2014 South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas Challenge. The two-day, four-team event was held at King's Student Center Complex.
Arnelle Collins led KU with 14 points, while Bonnie Durrett posted 11 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. Tia Keitt added 13 points, while Brittany Stringer contributed a dozen markers off the bench on four 3-pointers.
Tusculum seniors Blakeley Burleson and Rainey Story posted 15 points apiece, while Shynese Whitener accounted for nine points, nine rebounds and five assists. Bria Robinson added eight points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Pioneers.
With the score tied 18-18 midway through the first half, the Tornado used a 14-4 run to spark KU to a 39-29 lead at the intermission. King forced the Pioneers into a dozen first half turnovers, converting those miscues into 13 points.
Tusculum roared out of the locker room with an 8-0 run with seven of those points coming from Burleson as TC trailed 39-37 with 16:35 remaining. Following a pair of King free throws, Burleson cut the deficit to one (41-40) with her three-pointer at the 16:05 mark,
King upped the lead back to eight points following a trey from Stringer, but the Pioneers would rally again and cut the KU advantage back to one on a pair of Maelyn Cutshaw free throws with 7:51 remaining.
From there, the Pioneers went ice cold from the floor and were shutout for the next 5:37 before Cutshaw ended the drought with a bucket with 2:14 remaining. Whitener added a layup with 1:40 to go to cut the King lead to 66-58, but that would be as close as TC would get.
Tusculum edged King in rebounding 52-50, sparked by Kristen McMillion's eight rebound performance.
The Pioneers will open South Atlantic Conference play on Wednesday night when they host arch-rival Carson-Newman University for a 6 p.m. contest in Tusculum's home-opener at Pioneer Arena.
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