Tusculum Advances To Food Lion SAC Women’s Basktball Championship With 85-70 Win Over Carson-Newman

HICKORY, N.C. --- Nikki Van Dine poured in a career-high 26 points to lead the top-seeded Tusculum College women's basketball team to an 85-70 win over No. 4 seed Carson-Newman College in a semifinal match-up of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament Saturday at the Catawba Valley Community College Multipurpose Facility. Van Dine established a SAC Tournament record with eight 3-pointers, all coming in the first half.

With the victory, the Pioneers (25-4) advance to the Sunday's SAC Tournament Championship game against the winner of the Lenoir-Rhyne University/Newberry College semifinal. It will be Tusculum's third championship game appearance in the last four years as the Pioneers will be in quest of their first SAC Tournament crown. Carson-Newman falls to 19-10 overall and will await word Sunday night of a possible at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional.

Van Dine (Columbus, Ohio) scored 24 of her 26 points in the opening 20 minutes as she fired 8-for-11 from beyond the arc to pace Tusculum (No. 13 in USA Today/ESPN Division II Poll) to a 49-32 lead at halftime.

TC's Jasmine Gunn (Nashville, Tenn.) added 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Ashli Oliver (Kokomo, Ind.), Shantae Shank (Charlotte, N.C.) and Jasmine Parker (Rex, Ga.) each contributed eight points in the Pioneers' fourth straight win.

Tykira McDaniel (Griffin, Ga.) paced the Lady Eagles with 16 points off the bench, while Angela Volentine (North Platte, Neb.) contributed a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) and Mandy Mendenhall (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) added 13 and 12 points, respectively in the loss.

Tusculum's Nikki Van Dine set a conference tournament record with 8 3-pointers in Saturday's semifinal win over Carson-Newman. (Photo by Mike Slade.)

Tusculum used a 12-2 run in the final three minutes of the first half, including back-to-back three-pointers by Van Dine to take its largest lead of the afternoon (49-32). Tusculum shot 44 percent from the floor at the break, while limiting C-N to shoot 10-for-36 (27.8 percent), including 1-of-6 from long-range.

In the second half, Carson-Newman would capitalize on early foul trouble for Tusculum's All-America forward Stephany Neptune (Wallkill, N.Y.), who picked up third and fourth fouls in the opening minutes of the period. C-N would trim the deficit to 57-46 with 15:03 remaining following a three-point play by Kyle. The Lady Eagles would cut the lead to single-digits on a pair of Kyle free throws with 12:20 remaining.

Tusculum used a 6-0 run midway through the half as Shank canned a bucket and Oliver converted a four-point play with 10:48 left as the Pioneers led 69-54.

But Carson-Newman would later answer with seven straight points to get the deficit back to within 10 points (71-61) with eight minutes remaining on the clock. TC's Neptune also picked up her fifth foul with 7:07 remaining. But Tusculum would not allow the Lady Eagles to get within 10 for the remainder of the contest as Gunn would score nine points down the stretch to seal the victory.

Carson-Newman dominated the glass, out-rebounding Tusculum by a 60-44 margin, including 27-15 on the offensive boards. C-N's 60 rebounds are tied for the second most in SAC Tournament history (TC posted 64 rebounds against Lincoln Memorial University in Wednesday's SAC Tournament quarterfinal).

Van Dine was limited to only a two-point basket in the second half as she finished 9-for-14 from the field, including 8-of-11 in from three-point territory.

Tusculum's Kat Spears also added five points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for the Pioneers.

Quotes
Tusculum head coach Missy Tiber
On making the SAC Championship Game for the third time in four years:

"Maybe the third time is the charm for us. We're looking for a championship. If we leave here with anything less than that, will be a disappointment."

"Our focus was to do something different defensively. They're (C-N) a sideline break team and we took that away from them. I felt that led to their 27.8 percent shooting in the first half."

On Playing with out Stephany Neptune for the final seven minutes of the game
"She (Stephany) is our heart and soul. She wants to win so bad. This just shows that we are a special team because we were able to win without our All-American."

Tusculum senior guard Nikki Van Dine:
"I knew Stephany was out of the game, so I had to pick it up and just kept shooting. They gave me good looks on the first couple of trips so I just kept shooting."

Carson-Newman head coach Dean Walsh
"We just missed way too many easy looks. We are one of the top shooting teams in the nation, but we had too many players not mentally there."

"We told our players to shadow Nikki Van Dine in the first half and they didn't do it."

"We missed a lot of easy shots and free throws and you can't do that against a team of that caliber. We had 15 missed lay-ups in the first half."

At Hickory, N.C. (CVCC)
TUSCULUM 85, CARSON-NEWMAN 70
CARSON-NEWMAN
McDaniel, Tykira 6-8 4-10 16; Volentine,Angela 4-13 5-6 13; Kyle, Ashley 5-19 3-3 13; Mendenhall, Mandy 5-12 1-1 12; Eggleston, Lindsey 2-7 2-2 6; Buford, Shari 3-10 0-0 6; Williams, Zoriah 1-4 1-3 3; Tipton, Ashley 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 26-76 17-27 70.
TUSCULUM
Van Dine, Nikki 9-14 0-0 26; Gunn, Jasmine 9-19 4-7 23; Oliver, Ashli 3-10 1-2 8; Parker, Jasmine 4-9 0-0 8; Shank, Shantae 3-7 2-2 8; Spears, Kat 2-6 1-3 5; Hicks, Staci 2-2 1-2 5; Neptune, Stephany 1-8 0-0 2. Totals 33-75 9-17 85.
Carson-Newman....... 32 38 - 70
Tusculum............ 49 36 - 85
3-point goals-Carson-Newman 1-10 (Mendenhall, Mandy 1-2; Volentine,Angela 0-3; Kyle, Ashley 0-3; Tipton, Ashley 0-2), Tusculum 10-21 (Van Dine, Nikki 8-11; Gunn, Jasmine 1-2; Oliver, Ashli 1-8). Fouled out--Carson-Newman-None, Tusculum-Neptune, Stephany. Rebounds-Carson-Newman 60 (Volentine,Angela 13), Tusculum 44 (Spears, Kat 11). Assists-Carson-Newman 10 (Eggleston, Lindsey 4; Kyle, Ashley 4), Tusculum 14 (Gunn, Jasmine 5). Total fouls-Carson-Newman 20, Tusculum 23.