GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – After leading at the half and for most of the third quarter, an 8-0 run by the Pioneers late in the third and red hot shooting in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference as Tusculum outlasted LMU 69-58 Wednesday evening in Pioneer Arena.

With the loss, LMU falls to 15-12 and 10-9 in South Atlantic Conference play. Tusculum improves to 16-7 overall and 8-7 in SAC play.

Both teams had a first quarter to forget as LMU forced the Pioneers into eight turnovers for the frame, but were stymied by 18 percent shooting from the field and the teams were tied 7-7 after the first ten minutes.

Tusculum pulled out to a five point lead early in the second quarter only to see LMU go on an 10-2 run to take a 19-16 lead. TU would cut the deficit back to one before Jordan Maney grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back at the buzzer to give the Lady Railsplitters the 26-23 lead at the half.

LMU extended the lead to 30-23 in the first 1:30 of the third period, but a combination of the Pioneer press and Tusculum heating up offensively saw TU roll out to a 43-39 lead late in the stanza. A basket by Emily Griffith cut the lead back to four, but TU's Yolizma Cupidan buried a three-pointer as time expired to extend the Pioneer lead to 46-39.

Tusculum scored the first four points of the fourth period to push the lead to double digits and LMU was never able to get any closer than seven points for the rest of the contest as Tusculum held on for the 69-58 win.

Emily Griffith led LMU with 14 points, six rebounds and five steals. Lindsay Proffitt came off the bench to score eleven points, including three three-pointers. Cameryn DuBose and Shermeria Quarles tied Emily Griffith on the boards with six each.

Mia Long led the Pioneers with 18 points, while Kendrea Duke chipped in 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Cupidan and Jalia Arnwine each added in ten points.

Tusculum out-shot LMU by a 50.0 percent to 33.8 percent margin for the game, including a blistering 80 percent in the fourth quarter. LMU won the battle of the boards by a 41-37 margin.

Up Next
LMU closes out the regular season in Hickory, North Carolina, as they play at Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday afternoon.

Quick Hits
-LMU is the only team this season to play Tusculum twice and win the turnover battle both times. In Harrogate they had 20 turnovers to Tusculum's 23 and tonight they had 17 to TU's 18.

-Emily Griffith is now the highest scoring player in LMU history to not have 1,000 career points as she has 988 points following tonight's game. She is now in 20th place in the all-time scoring list after passing Monica Owens, who had 982 points from 1986-90.