JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. --- Jennifer Sullivan scored 33 points and Carson-Newman University shot 56.8 percent from the field in a 107-80 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball Wednesday evening at Holt Fieldhouse.
Sullivan hit six of the 11 three-pointers by the Eagles (15-4, 11-2 SAC), who shot a sizzling 68.6 percent (24-for-35) from the field in the second half. Carson-Newman turned 22 Tusculum turnovers into 33 points and scored 36 fast-break points in the game.
Cybil Penland and Karli Haworth had 11 points apiece, Matti Nuckolls added 10 points and Emily Gonzalez had eight points and nine assists for the Eagles, who remain tied atop the SAC standings with Coker and Lenoir-Rhyne with nine games left in the regular season.
Aisha Patel scored 13 of her career-high 15 points in the second half for the Pioneers (2-17, 2-11 SAC), with Martina Garofalo matching her season high with 14 points. Abbi Douglas added 14 points for Tusculum, which received 11 points and five rebounds from Julia Szwichtenberg.
Josie Horner finished with nine points for the Pioneers and Caroline McDowell had a season-best eight points for Tusculum, which reached a season high in points in the game by shooting 48.3 percent (29-for-60) from the field. Ema Nagyova scored seven points and had four rebounds, and Angela Gomez dished out seven assists to finish one shy of matching her career high.
Carson-Newman scored the first five points of the game and led by seven points four different times in the first quarter, but baskets from Szwichtenberg and Gomez cut the Carson-Newman lead to 19-16 after the opening period.
Tusculum stretched its run to 8-0 to start the second quarter on baskets from Horner and Douglas, taking its only lead of the game at 20-19 with 8:42 left in the half. Carson-Newman would answer with a 16-2 run to go up 35-22, with Sullivan accounting for 10 of the points during the surge. Sullivan would score 15 points in the period, including a three-pointer just before the buzzer that gave the Eagles a 47-32 lead at intermission.
Sullivan led all players with 18 points in the first half on 7-for-11 shooting, including four three-pointers. Carson-Newman shot 46.2 percent (18-for-39) from the field in the half and outrebounded the Pioneers by a 23-18 margin. Garofalo led Tusculum with seven points while Horner, Szwichtenberg and McDowell had five each as the Pioneers shot 38.2 percent (13-for-34) in the opening half.
The Carson-Newman lead hovered between 10 and 16 points through the entire third quarter, with the Eagles taking a 73-60 lead into the fourth following a buzzer-beating three from Garofalo. Tusculum was 5-for-8 on three-pointers in the fourth quarter, including three without a miss by Patel, but a 14-0 run by the Eagles in a span of just over two minutes was too much for the Pioneers to overcome.
Patel, who also had five rebounds, surpassed her previous season high of 14 points set twice previously. The 14 points from Garofalo matched her best set on Dec. 17 at Mars Hill, and McDowell easily beat her previous high of three points set three different times.
Carson-Newman was 12-for-13 at the foul line while Tusculum went 14-for-21 at the stripe, and the Eagles ended up with a slim 32-31 rebound margin in the game. The Eagles had 26 assists on their 42 field goals, and turned the ball over just nine times.
Tusculum will be back to Pioneer Arena to host Wingate on Friday beginning at noon, in a game moved up from Saturday due to weather concerns. The Bulldogs squeaked past Anderson 69-68 on Wednesday evening for their eighth win in their last nine games, moving Wingate to 13-6 overall and 8-5 in the SAC.
