BRISTOL, Tenn. --- Kabrina Truesdale's free
throw with 0.1 seconds remaining lifted the Lees-McRae College
women's basketball team to a 71-70 win over Tusculum College Friday
night at the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas
Challenge. The SAC/CC Challenge is being held at the Student
Center Complex on the campus of King University.
With 1:05 remaining, Tusculum senior Blakeley Burleson broke a
68-68 tie with her rebound and put-back to give the Pioneers a
70-68 advantage. Lees-McRae's Lexus Norwood would be fouled with
31.7 seconds left as she made both free throws for the eighth tie
of the contest (70-70).
Tusculum (0-1) worked for the last shot, but senior Rainey Story was called for an illegal screen with seven seconds to go, giving the Bobcats (1-0) a chance at the win.
Truesdale went up for the go ahead lay-up but Burleson was whistled for a blocking foul with 0.1 seconds on the clock. Truesdale missed her first free throw attempt. Tusculum ensued by exhausting its remaining three timeouts to ice the LMC shooter. But Truesdale will hit the game-winning free throw and give the Bobcats their first win over Tusculum in 24 years (Jan. 23, 1993).
Rainey posted a double-double in her Tusculum debut as the Greeneville native finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while shooting 9-of-16 from the floor. Greeneville sophomore Maelyn Cutshaw accounted for 15 points while shooting 4-of-7 from three-point territory. Junior Shynese Whitener added 13 points, three assists and matched a career-high with six steals.
LMC's Niroska Perez led the Bobcats with 20 points, while Truesdale accounted for 19 points, seven assists and five steals. Kerri Belcher finished with a double-double with 10 points and 16 boards to go along with her five steals.
Tusculum trailed by 13 points in the first half and closed out the opening period with an 8-3 run to trail 36-29 at the intermission.
The Pioneers would take their first lead since early in the game when Cutshaw buried a three-pointer to give TC a 44-43 advantage with 13:25 to go.
Tusculum jumped out to its largest lead of the game at 51-47 following a layup from Whitener as the Pioneers led 51-47 with 11:01 remaining.
With Tusculum leading 59-56 with 6:30, the Bobcats score five straight points, including a Kathleen Casey layup and a Perez three-pointer as LMC regained a 61-59 lead with 5:13 left on the clock.
TC junior Kristen McMillion canned back-to-back buckets to give the Pioneers the lead again, but Truesdale knotted the game again at 63-63 at the 3:53 mark of the second half.
Neither team would take more than a two-point lead for the remainder of the contest, setting up the thrilling final minute of action.
Both teams combined for 55 turnovers (LMC 28, TC 27) and 27 steals (LMC 15, TC 12) in the contest.
Lees-McRae finished the game shooting 43.4 percent from the floor, while Tusculum fired at a 39.4 percent clip. TC out-rebounded the Bobcats 46-38, including 22-12 on the offensive glass, resulting into 18 second chance points for the Pioneers.
Tusculum will take on host King on Saturday at 4 p.m. as the SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge concludes.
- TC -
