GREENWOOD – Jama Hammontree and Kendal Baxter combined for 31 points as a more experienced Tusculum College team pulled away from the youthful Lander Lady Bearcats 81-55 Saturday afternoon in a non-conference game at Horne Arena.

Tusculum, starting five seniors, improved to 5-1 on the season. Lander, starting one senior and three freshmen, fell to 0-3.

The Lady Bearcats trailed 47-41 inside the 13-minute mark, but a 23-2 Tusculum run put the game away.

Precious Elkins, Lander's only senior, led the hosts with 16 points and nine rebounds. Aarika Judge, a junior, added 15 points and seven boards for the Lady Bearcats. Freshman Briana Wade added seven points for Lander, while no one else scored more than four points.

Hammontree scored 17 points while Baxter added 14 points, including four 3-pointers, for Tusculum. Breaira Barksdale added 10 points for the Pioneers while April McCann led them with nine rebounds. Barksdale also had five steals and four assists.

Lander made 20 of 54 shots from the floor (37 percent), 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent) and only three of 16 from behind the arc (19 percent).

The Pioneers hit 34 of 70 shots from the floor (49 percent), two of seven free throws (29 percent) and 11 of 25 from 3-point range (44 percent) while out-rebounding Lander 43-34.

Down by five (35-30) at halftime, Lander pulled within a possession of the lead for the first time in the game when freshman Jade Forest made a layup off a pass from Judge to make it 35-32. The Lady Bearcats had a chance to cut it to one point on the next possession but missed a layup.

Tusculum built its lead back into double figures on baskets by Hammontree and Ashley Thurman, and a 3-pointer by McCann to make it 42-32 at the 17-minute mark.

McCann's layup gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the game at 12 points, 48-36, with 15 minutes left. But Lander continued to battle back as it did in the first half, scoring five unanswered points on a Judge 3, and one free throw apiece by Judge and Elkins to trail 48-41 with 12:45 left.

But Tusculum would outscore the Lady Bearcats 23-2 over the next eight-plus minutes.

Alishia Mosley's jumper restored Tusculum's 12-point lead again at 54-42 with 10:15 to go. Then Baxter, who played for the Pioneers when they beat Lander in a Sweet 16 game at Horne Arena three seasons ago, nailed a 3 to extend Tusculum's lead to its largest of the game at 57-42 at the nine-minute mark.

Baxter hit another long 3 as the Pioneers built their lead to 64-42 with six minutes left. Nequoiah Anderson's leaning trey made it 71-43 with 4:11 left.

Tusculum scored the game's first eight points and built its lead to double figures at 21-11 with 13 minutes left on Blakeley Burleson's 3.

But Lander fought back into the game with seven unanswered points. Wade hit a 3-pointer and Lea Saunders scored a pair of layups off turnovers to pull the Lady Bearcats within 21-18 at the 11-minute mark.

Hammontree's 3 ended the run, pushing Tusculum's lead back to 24-18. Elkins answered on the ensuing possession with a basket in the paint to close Lander's deficit to four. And although the Lady Bearcats failed to score over the next four-plus minutes, when Judge hit a pair of free throws they were back within four again at 26-22 with 6:21 left.

Forest's put-back pulled Lander within 28-24. But Baxter hit a 3 from the top of the key, pushing the Pioneers to a 31-24 lead with 5:28 to go. Tusculum extended its lead to nine before the Lady Bearcats got back within four yet again on a basket by Elkins with 1:48 left.

Jamie Shaw, a four-year star on the Lander women's soccer team, recently joined the Lady Bearcat basketball team and hit one of two free throws with four seconds left to pull Lander within 35-30 at the break.