- Wingate University erased a one-goal halftime deficit to defeat Tusculum College 16-13 in South Atlantic Conference Women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon.

Shannon O'Neal scored three of her game-high five goals in the second half for the Bulldogs (12-4, 6-2 SAC), who tallied nine of the first 11 goals after halftime to turn an 8-7 Pioneer lead into a 16-10 Wingate advantage.

Rachel Holmes had three goals to lead the Pioneers (10-5, 4-4 SAC) while Madison Malone and Savannah Elliott each finished with two goals and an assist. Kelsey Crow scored a pair of goals for the Pioneers, who led on three different occasions in the first half.

Tusculum took a 2-0 lead in the first 2 1/2 minutes on goals by Calyn Kelly and Crow, but the Bulldogs responded with three consecutive goals from Paulena Dempsey, Anna Harbacevich and Emily Nosek to go on top 3-2 with 7 1/2 minutes gone in the first half. A pair of goals from Malone and one from Claire Stanton put the Pioneers back in the lead 5-4 with 11:35 remaining in the half, but Brittany Andrews scored twice in a two-minute span and O'Neal added one to put Wingate ahead 7-5 with 8:00 to go in the half.

The Pioneers struck back with three goals in the final 4 1/2 minutes of the first half to take an 8-7 lead into the half. Cheyenne Bray brought the Pioneers within 7-6 on a goal with 4:07 left, and Holmes netted the tying goal with 1:43 remaining. With one second left in the half, Hayley Bartlett scored on a free-position shot to give the Pioneers the halftime advantage.

In the second half, the Bulldogs put three goals on the board in the first 4 1/2 minutes to take a 10-8 lead. O'Neal scored twice and Nosek added a goal during the surge, which was broken when Crow scored with 21:41 left to pull the Pioneers within 10-9. However, Dempsey scored three times in 3 minutes, 45 seconds as part of a 6-1 Wingate run that was interrupted by a goal from the Pioneers' Elliott, as the Bulldogs went in front 16-10 with 7:01 left.

Tusculum finished the game with three unanswered goals, including two from Holmes and one from Elliott, to cut the final margin to 16-13. Malone assisted on the final goal from Elliott, extending her SAC-leading assist total to 42.

Wingate held a 33-25 advantage in shots over Tusculum, while the Pioneers had a 22-19 edge in ground balls. Both teams finished the game with 15 draw controls, but the Pioneers committed 25 turnovers to 22 by the Bulldogs.

On defense, the Pioneers received four ground balls and five caused turnovers from Crow, while Malone had four draw controls and Kelly and Bray had three apiece. Emily Ketron paced the Bulldogs with four ground balls, while Megan Amrein had three. Nosek and Andrews had three draw controls apiece for Wingate, along with three by Jaclyn Chiesa.

Brooke Wagner played all 60 minutes in goal for the Pioneers and finished with seven saves along with a game-high eight ground balls, while Arion Pierre had seven saves as well for the Bulldogs.

The Pioneers will host Brevard in a SAC quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at Pioneer Field. Game time will be determined later this weekend.