Johnson City Times

Mya Belton scored a season-high 23 points and Blayre Shultz matched her career best with 22 points as Tusculum University earned its 11th consecutive victory with a 67-46 win over Milligan University in non-conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.

Jami Tham posted her 14th straight double-double with 14 points and a game-high 18 rebounds for the Pioneers (13-1), who outrebounded the Buffaloes 46-35 and went 12-for-12 from the foul line as a team. Tusculum outscored Milligan 40-26 in the second half after leading 27-20 at intermission.

Belton added 11 rebounds for her fourth consecutive double-double and added four blocked shots, while shooting 8-for-15 from the field and drilling three three-pointers. Her previous season high of 22 points came in the Pioneers' last game against Southern Wesleyan on Dec. 17.

Shultz reached the 20-points mark for the third time this season and equaled her career best of 22 points set against Georgia State on Jan. 8, 2022 while playing for Coastal Carolina. Shultz had six rebounds and three steals and was 4-for-4 from the foul line.

Tham was just 5-for-17 from the field, but sank all four of her foul shots and pulled 14 of her 18 boards on the defensive end. Tham leads all divisions of the NCAA with her 14 double-doubles and ranks second in Division II with 14.1 rebounds per game.

Tusculum's 12-for-12 performance at the foul line is tied for the second-most made free throws without a miss in a game in program history, matching a 12-for-12 effort against Warren Wilson on Jan. 23, 1992. The school record is 29-for-29 against Mars Hill on Jan. 28, 2004.

At 13-1, the Pioneers are off to their best start since going 14-1 to start the 2008-09 season, which was also the last time that Tusculum won 11 consecutive games. Tusculum finished its non-conference schedule with a 9-1 record and won its seventh straight home game without a loss.

Kristy Galea led the Buffaloes with 14 points and nine rebounds while Lauren Longmire had 10 points and four assists. Milligan shot 31.6 percent (18-for-57) from the field in the game, which was designated as an exhibition for the Buffaloes.

Tusculum trailed 6-2 and missed its first seven shots from the field before Belton connected on a jumper with 5:57 left in the first quarter. Belton would score the first seven points for the Pioneers and Shultz would add four as part of an 11-0 run that gave Tusculum a 13-6 lead with 4:09 remaining in the quarter. A Shultz layup would give Tusculum its largest lead of the quarter at 17-8, and the Pioneers would carry a 19-11 lead into the second quarter following a late bucket by Tham.

Baskets by Galea and Longmire to start the second quarter would help the Buffaloes pull within 19-15, but the Pioneers rank off six straight points and kept Milligan scoreless for more than six minutes as Tusculum took a 27-20 lead into halftime. The Buffaloes would miss 11 consecutive shot attempts until a late layup by Madi Runnels ended Milligan's field-goal drought at more than seven minutes.

Shultz led all players with 12 points in the first half on 5-for-8 shooting from the field while Belton added nine points and five rebounds for the Pioneers, who shot 33.3 percent (11-for-33) from the field and 1-for-6 from three-point range. Galea led the Buffaloes with six points and five rebounds as Milligan was just 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from the floor in the opening half.

Tusculum shot 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from the field in the third quarter, with back-to-back layups from Belton giving the Pioneers a 38-28 lead with 5:21 left in the period. A three-pointer from Shultz and a layup from Tham in the final minute of the quarter stretched the Tusculum lead to 47-33 entering the final period.

Milligan would get no closer than 12 in the fourth quarter, which came on a layup by Longmire in the opening minute of the period. The Pioneers would go up 62-44 on a layup by Tham with 2:50 to play, while the Tusculum defense would keep Milligan scoreless for the final 2:02 following a layup by Longmire.

Off the Tusculum bench, Deidre Cheremond hit a pair of three-pointers and finished with eight points in 13 minutes. Semaj Clark hit two three-pointers for the Buffaloes and finished with six points in 18 minutes in a reserve role.

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