Junior forward Shynese Whitener scored 20 points to lead the Tusculum College Women’s basketball team to a 72-58 victory over Queens University of Charlotte on Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference action inside Pioneer Arena.

After giving up the first bucket of the game, the Pioneers (2-5, 2-2 SAC) quickly took the lead and did not surrender it for the remainder of the game. Their largest lead of the contest was 19 with just over five minutes to play. TC’s defense also held the Royals (1-6, 0-4) scoreless for a six minute stretch in the second half, which proved to be the difference in the contest.

Sophomore guard Maelyn Cutshaw scored in double figures for the fifth-straight game after tallying 13 points while dishing out four assists. Junior forward Kristen McMillion scored 10 points while pulling down a team-high seven rebounds. Whitener was 8-of-13 from the field and also had a game-high five steals in her second 20-point effort of the season.

TC used a 10-0 run to jump out to an early 10-2 lead just three minutes into the game. The Pioneers’ advantage stretched to double-figures for the first time with the score at 19-8, and its biggest lead of the first half came after a layup by senior guard Brianna Mitchell that made the score 23-10 with just over nine minutes to play before halftime.

However, the Royals used a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game at 25-25 with 4:24 to play before the break. With the game knotted at 29, TC reeled off a 7-1 run in the final two minutes of the first half to take a 36-30 lead into the locker room. Freshman guard Madison Malone had eight points in the initial frame after making her first career start.

Tusculum held a lead of no larger than eight points through the first eight minutes of the second half, and a layup by the Royals’ McKell Oliverio cut the Pioneer advantage to 52-46 with 11:36 to play. However, following the basket, TC picked up the defensive pressure and caused the long scoring drought by the Royals. Tusculum scored 13 points during that six-minute stretch to increase its lead to 65-46 with 5:26 remaining in the game.

A layup by Queens’ Sheridan Pressley finally ended the scoring drought, but the Royals would only come within 14 points of the lead for the final five minutest of the contest, and TC cruised to its first win of the season inside Pioneer Arena. TC’s leading scorer for the season, Rainey Story, was held to just nine points after having to sit out most of the second half with foul trouble.

Oliverio led the Royals with 20 points and Maggie Stewart finished with 11 off the bench. Both Stewart and Oliverio each pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, while Lacey Singletary had six points and a game-high three blocks.

Tusculum scored 39 points off of 32 Royals’ turnovers, the most turnovers caused by the Pioneers this season. TC also held a 36-20 advantage to points in the paint and a 15-5 advantage on second-chance points, helped by 14 its offensive boards.

The Pioneers will be back in action for the final time in the 2014 calendar year next Monday night (Dec. 13) when they face Catawba University in Greeneville at 6 p.m.