GREENWOOD - Almost two feet apart in height, 4-foot-11 guard Jasmine Gunn and 6-foot-8 center Catherine Hintz have led Tusculum College into the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional finals with a 103-96 victory over Francis Marion Saturday night at Finis Horne Arena.
Gunn led the seventh-seeded Pioneers (22-9) into the national Sweet 16 with a performance for the ages, setting an NCAA Division II Women's Tournament record with 23 made free throws and falling one point shy of the Tournament all-time scoring record with 45 points.
Hintz added a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds, added five blocked shots, and changed countless other Francis Marion shots with her towering presence inside.
Tusculum will face Lander for the Southeast Regional championship Monday night at 7 p.m. at Horne Arena. Monday night's winner advances to the Elite Eight to be played in St. Joseph, Mo.
Third seed Francis Marion ended its season at 27-5.
Gunn made 11 of 15 shots from the floor with her patented drives to the goal that so often draw fouls. If she wasn't laying the ball in off the glass, she was at least getting to the line where she hit 23 of 29 attempts to break the old record of 17 free throws made by Lake Superior State's Darcy Fralick in 1998.
Gunn fell one point shy of the Tournament single-game scoring record of 46 points set by Fort Valley State's Sherika Tarpkins in 1988. Gunn's 45 points came in 31 minutes of action and the junior from Nashville, Tenn., also dished out six assists. Gunn's 45 points is also a single-game South Atlantic Conference record and her 29 free throw attempts are a Division II record.
Junior guard Jasmine Parker added 20 points and freshman guard Kendal Baxter scored 10 as Gunn, Hintz, Parker and Baxter combined for 96 of Tusculum's 103 points. Senior forward Kat Spears added 10 rebounds for the Pioneers while sophomore forward Staci Hicks had nine boards.
Senior foward Nicole Mealing led 20th-ranked Francis Marion with 29 points in her final collegiate game while adding eight rebounds and sharing team-high honors with seven assists. Junior guard Shannon Singleton-Bates added 21 points for the Patriots, senior guard Eboni Fields scored 13 points while senior forward Precious Tucker scored 11 points.
Junior guard Robin Colbert led Francis Marion with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
The first five minutes was a back-and-forth battle with Tusculum grabbing a 10-8 edge behind Gunn's basket and 5-for-5 free-throw shooting, and Baxter's first 3-pointer. Francis Marion countered with Singleton-Bates hitting a pair of free throws and grabbing a back-court steal and layup, and Mealing hitting a 3-pointer.
The Patriots then got hot, scoring nine unanswered points including two baskets by Tucker and a Fields 3-pointer for a 17-10 lead. Francis Marion's lead grew to nine, 24-15, on Tucker's basket at the 10:54 mark.
Hintz scored back-to-back baskets in the paint to pull the Pioneers within four, 29-25, at the eight minute mark to ignite a 12-0 run, Baxter hit an NBA-range 3-pointer to pull Tusculum within one, and Gunn sliced inside for a three-point play to give the Pioneers a 31-29 lead. After Hintz missed three close-up shots under the basket, Hicks laid it in to complete the run for a 33-29 advantage. Tusculum would not trail again.
Francis Marion got within one on four occasions and within two twice. But Hintz was usng her heighth advantage inside, scoring two layups in a row to push Tusculum's lead to 47-41, giving her a double-double already with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Monica Mann's 3-pointer from the top of the key pulled the Patriots within three. But Gunn closed the half with two more free throws, giving her 11 makes out of 12 attempts and 19 points as the Pioneers were up 49-44 at the break.
Each team scored on its first three possessions of the second half as the Pioneers maintained their five-point lead, 55-50, with Gunn driving twice inside for baskets and dishing off to Hicks for a baseline jumper. Mealing, Fields and Singleton-Bates countered with baskets for Francis Marion.
Tusculum increased its lead to seven before Mealing hit a 3-pointer to pull the Patriots within four. But Gunn continued to find a way to the free-throw line, slicing inside and getting fouled, and hitting two more free throws. The next time down the floor, she drove inside again, but kicked it out to Baxter, who hit another NBA range trey to give the Pioneers their largest lead of the game at 65-56 with 15:27 to go. Parker added a free throw for the first double-digit lead for either team in the game, 66-56.
The teams began trading baskets with Hintz scoring twice inside on back-to-back trips, giving the Pioneers a 72-60 lead. And after Fields hit a 3 to pull Francis Marion within single digits, Hintz scored again to make it 74-63 at the 11:11 mark.
Gunn hit two more free throws to give Tusculum its biggest lead of the game at 78-65 with 10:01 left. Singleton-Bates hit a jumper to pull the Patriots back within 10, 79-69, with 8:55 to go, but while Hintz and Gunn hit two free throws apiece, Shana Franks scored twice inside to keep Francis Marion within 10 points, the last making it 83-73 with 7:55 left.
Gunn's bank shot from just inside the top of the key with 6:45 to go gave her 35 points, and she sliced inside for another basket to match the Pioneers' largest lead of the game at 13, 87-74, with 6:21 to go. Even when she finally missed a free throw, Gunn ran down her own rebound, leading to another Hintz score under the basket as Tusculum's lead grew to a game-high 15 points, 89-74.
After Parker's layup gave the Pioneers a 91-76 lead with 4:39 to go, matching their largest lead, Francis Marion began to claw back into the game. With Hintz fouling out at the 4:24 mark and Gunn missing two more free throws, the Patriots pulled within single digits when Fields hit a 3-pointer from the left side, making it 91-82, with 3:29 left.
But Baxter hit one of two free throws to push the lead back into double figures, and Gunn found an opening and drove inside for another layup and three-point play making it 95-82 with 2:51 to go. Gunn drove inside and laid another basket off the glass and added a free throw on consecutive possessions to keep the Pioneers safely ahead. Francis Marion continued to battle and Tucker's put-back pulled them within 98-89 with 1:21 to go.
The Patriots got a steal on the in-bounds play and Mealing hit two free throws to close the Patriots within 98-91 with a minute to go. After Gunn missed a jumper in the lane, Singleton-Bates hit a free throw to cut the deficit to six, 98-92, with 35 seconds left.
Gunn hit two more free throws with 32 seconds left as Tusculum reached the 100-point mark, but she did not get another chance to go to the line. Parker was fouled twice in the final 30 seconds and made three of four free throws to seal Tusculum's first-ever Sweet 16 trip.
For the game, Tusculum made 31 of 56 shots from the floor (55 percent), 38 of 52 free throws (73 percent), and three of six shots from 3-point range (50 percent). The 52 free throw attempts set a Tournament record.
Francis Marion hit 34 of 83 shots (41 percent), 20 of 31 free throws (65 percent), and eight of 18 from behind the arc (44 percent).
The Pioneers had a narrow 43-42 edge on the boards and committed 17 turnovers to Francis Marion's 11.
Tusculum Head Coach Adell Harris
“This is a great effort by our kids. We beat a really, really good team in Francis Marion. We learned some lessons from the first time we played them this season and we took care of the ball better and executed what we wanted to execute.”
“We wanted to get to the foul line. Our game goal was to get 30 points from the line. We knew they were an overly aggressive team, so we wanted to expose that part of the game and then just keep our foot on the gas offensively as it relates to attacking the paint area.”
(On Catherine Hintz): “We needed every last one of her 21 points and 12 rebounds. She’s the only kid in America who’s open all the time. We just get contributions from everybody, I’m so proud of our group.”
“There may have been some jitters early in the game, that may have led to some turnovers.”
“FMU is number one in the nation in steals per game and we were able to counter that with what we were doing offensively.”
(On Jasmine Gunn): “Nobody can guard Jasmine Gunn. She’s the fastest kid I’ve ever seen with a basketball in her hands. That’s tough to guard, and we knew we would have an advantage because of her. But you can’t rely on her, or you’ll just exhaust her.”
“I tend not to get surprised by the stuff she does. I have a high expectation of her and she’ll do whatever we need her to do.”
Tusculum’s Jasmine Gunn
“They couldn’t keep up, so I would try to lean my body in, try to get under them so they can foul. They can’t stop, but they’re behind me by then. I’m supposed to make all my free throws…I’m working on it.”
FMU head coach Heather Macy:
This is an incredibly tough loss, especially for our five seniors. Tusculum is a good basketball team and this was their night. Congratulations to them.
(the foul situation) It is very difficult to win basketball games when your opponent goes to the foul line 52 times. We made some adjustments at halftime, but the bottom line is you can not guard them at the free throw line.
(on TC's Jasmine Gunn) Gunn is a great player. You must give credit to someone who scores 45 points.
(on forcing only 17 turnovers) With the fouls, it changes the game. You don't have the opportunity to press. It also changed our player rotation.
I am very proud of the girls, especially with their effort at the very end. We were able to force some turnovers.
FMU senior forward Nicole Mealing:
I am very disappointed. We played hard. We are a physical team and the foul trouble took us out of our game.
(on her senior season at FMU) Coach Macy has taught me a lot. She developed me as a player. I also love this team very much.
