Pioneers Rally to Defeat Mars Hill
The Mars Hill women’s basketball team lost 85-78 to Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference action on Thursday night in Stanford Arena.
MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill women's basketball team lost 85-78 to Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference action on Thursday night in Stanford Arena. With the win, Tusculum improves to 3-14 and 3-10 in the league, while Mars Hill falls to 4-13 on the season and 3-10 in conference play.
Five Mars Hill players finished in double figures, led by reigning South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week Ansley Ricker with 18 points. Cadence Wilmoth scored a season high 13 points, with Autumn Ward adding 12 points, Brittany Baker with 11 and Genice Lane with 10.
Nequoiah Anderson scored a game high 25 points to lead the Pioneers. Maelyn Cutshaw contributed 18 points, Shynese Whitner added 16, Blakeley Burleson scored 12 and Kristen McMillion finished with 11 points.
Mars Hill got on the board first with a 3-pointer from Autumn Ward before Tusculum took a 5-3 lead on a Maelyn Cutshaw jumper with 18:25 to go in the half. Mars Hill pulled back ahead thanks to a Ricker 3-pointer just over two minutes later. Mars Hill led 25-23 with 10:33 to play in the half and went on a 19-9 run to extend their lead to 12 points, 44-32 with 3:22 remaining before Tusculum trimmed to lead to 50-44 at halftime.
Tusculum scored the first six points of the second half to take a 52-50 lead with 17:32 remaining before Mars Hill tied the game on a Lane layup. After being fouled on a 3-point attempt, Anderson sank all of her free throws to give the Pioneers a 57-55 lead with just over 16 minutes to play. The Pioneers led by no more than two points before Mars Hill retook the lead thanks to an Espinosa layup with 11:51 left. The Lions pushed their lead to five, 72-67, before the Pioneers tied the game at 72 thanks to a layup and Anderson 3-pointer with 6:29 to play. Wilmoth gave Mars Hill a 75-72 lead on an old fashioned 3-point play with 5:39 to play.
Tusculum took the lead for good with a layup from McMillion with 3:42 remaining. Tusculum went on a 9-1 run to close out the win, as Mars Hill missed their last six shots from the floor.
Tusculum scored 27 points off of 24 Mars Hill turnovers. The Lions shot 58.8 percent (20-34) from the floor in the first half, but only 27.6 percent (8-29) in the second half for a total of 44.4 percent. Tusculum shot 48.4 percent (15-31) in the first half and 33.3 (12-36) percent in the second for a total of 40.3 percent.
Mars Hill travels to Wingate on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
