GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College women's basketball team will open its 2016-17 season this weekend at the South Atlantic Conference/Conference Carolinas Challenge, hosted by King University. The Pioneers will play the host Tornado on Friday at 6 p.m. and Lees-McRae on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Head coach Devan Carter begins his second season on the Tusculum bench with three starters returning from last year's squad that finished 13-12 overall and 11-11 in the SAC, missing out on a berth in the conference tournament via tiebreaker. Seven of the Pioneers' top nine scorers are part of this year's lineup that has been bolstered by a Division I transfer and several freshmen who are projected to be immediate contributors.
The lone four-year member of the team is senior guard Maelyn Head, who returned from near career-ending back problems to average 10.2 points per game. She started the final 10 games last season and scored in double figures in eight of those contests, including a career-high 27 points in an 82-73 overtime win over eventual SAC Tournament champion Wingate. Head paced the Pioneers with 23 three-pointers and shot 79.2 percent from the foul line (42-for-53). For her career, the 5-9 Greeneville native is averaging 10.2 points per game in 65 contests (49 starts) with 61 three-pointers.
Sophomore forward Kasey Johnson was a member of the SAC All-Freshman team after averaging 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds as a rookie. The team's top returning scorer, Johnson was 11th in the conference in rebounding and ranked third in field goal percentage at 51.5 percent (121-for-235). The Greensboro, North Carolina 6-footer scored in double figures in 15 of her last 17 games a year ago, with a season high of 24 points against Coker.
Sophomore guard Sydney Wilson also averaged in double figures for the Pioneers a year ago, with 10.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Wilson, a 5-9 native of Greensboro, North Carolina, was second on the team to Head with 22 three-pointers, and scored in double figures 16 times, including a career-high 21 points at Queens and again against Catawba.
Sophomore guard Callie Patterson played in 12 games and averaged 6.1 points and 1.4 assists per game before going down with a season-ending injury against Mars Hill on Jan. 13. The 5-7 Patterson scored a season-high 17 points against King, while the McLeansville, North Carolina native averaged 3.0 rebounds per contest for the Pioneers.
Tusculum's attack will be bolstered by the addition of Division I transfer Benedicta Makakala, who comes to Greeneville after three seasons at Morgan State University. Makakala, who hails from Stockholm, Sweden, started 23 games for the Bears last season and averaged 2.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, including a season-high 10 points against North Carolina Central. In two seasons as a starter at Tallahassee Community College in Florida, Makakala averaged 3.7 points per game, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
Senior forward Jasmine Queen came to Tusculum last season from Tallahassee Community College, where she was a teammate of Makakala, and averaged 5.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. The 6-2 Queen, who hails from Riverview, Florida and played as a freshman at Division I Florida Atlantic, made nine starts among her 20 appearances, and had a season-high 13 points against Virginia-Wise.
Veteran depth in the frontcourt will come from senior Indya Kinard. The 6-2 Kinard, from Clinton, South Carolina, appeared in 14 games and contributed 14 points and 17 rebounds, including a season-best four points on 2-for-4 shooting against Lenoir-Rhyne and four rebounds against King. She has appeared in 19 career games in two seasons for Tusculum, averaging 0.8 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.3 blocked shots.
Also bringing depth and experience to the forward position is 5-11 junior Kristen Atwell, who played in 21 games last season and averaged 1.8 points in nearly 8 1/2 minutes per contest. Atwell reached a season high of six points at Queens and against Lincoln Memorial. In two seasons with the Pioneers, the Wytheville, Virginia native is averaging 2.0 points and 1.4 rebounds per game in 39 contests.
A pair of juniors will also bring depth to the backcourt in Morgan Depew and Heather Crouch. Depew, a 5-5 native of Elizabethton, Tennessee averaged 2.2 points and 1.3 assists per game in 14 contests, including five starts last year. Depew played 26 minutes in a 74-55 win at Queens and finished with seven points and five assists. Crouch, a 5-5 native of Vinton, Va., appeared in three games for the Pioneers in her first season as a member of the team.
Also expected to contribute as a junior is transfer Sharai Larry, who comes to Tusculum after two seasons at Labette Community College in Kansas. At Labette, Larry averaged 10.6 points and 3.0 rebounds while making a team-high 42 three-pointers in 26 games for the Cardinals. The 5-5 Larry is a native of Camden, Georgia, where she averaged 8.8 points per game as a senior at Camden County High School.
Several freshmen are expected to provide an immediate impact for the Pioneers, including forwards Jasmine Williams and Regan Croff and guards Monica Roberts and Tara Shields.
The 6-2 Williams was an All-Conference standout for the Trojans and averaged 14 points per game for her career, while the 6-foot Croff paced Independence High School (Franklin, Tenn.) in scoring, rebounding and assists as a senior and was a three-year captain. The 5-9 Roberts, from Huntsville, Tenn., scored 1,154 points at Scott High School in leading the Highlanders to three regional tournament appearances. Shields was a prolific scorer at Alcoa High School, tallying 1,379 career points and ranking sixth in state history with 315 career three-pointers. The 5-7 Shields was also named All-District and All-County four times and was the 2016 district MVP.
A total of seven freshmen joined the Pioneers this season, with forwards Savannah Neas (Greensboro, N.C.) and Kahliya Murry (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) and guard Tia Dailey (Morristown, Tenn.) rounding out the group of newcomers. The 5-9 Neas shot 46 percent from three-point range as a senior at Northwest Guilford, while the 5-11 Murry had 72 blocked shots as a junior and was a three-year captain at Riverdale High School, which won a pair of state titles during her career. The 5-6 Dailey put up 15 points and six assists per game at Morristown East High School, while earning All-District and All-Region honors.
After opening the season with two games at King this weekend, the Pioneers will play their home and conference opener on Saturday, Nov. 19 against Wingate at Pioneer Arena.
