Cincinnati, OH - Senior point guard Shawn Kolani fired in six 3-pointers on the way to a game-high 21 points as the Transylvania women's basketball team won over the Mt. St. Joseph Lions 82-72 at the Harrington Center.

Transylvania's road victory propelled the Pioneers to their season-best fifth straight win, all of which have come by double digits. Transylvania improved to 11-5 overall and 7-2 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play, good for a three-team logjam at second place in conference behind Bluffton.

Freshman guard Celia Kline poured in a career-high 17 points off the bench for Transylvania, nearly outdoing Kolani's three point barrage with five made 3-pointers of her own on the night.

In a "can-you-top-this"-style shooting display, Kline and Kolani combined to splash home 11-of-20 attempts from the three-point arc.

Led by Kolani and Kline's outdoor accuracy, the Pioneers put together a season-high in 3-pointers made, shooting 16-for-37 from three point range. Transylvania's 16 threeballs composed 59 percent of their scoring production.

For Kolani, the three-point buckets were only a fraction of her monster performance as the senior from Los Angeles, California came just one assist shy of a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, and two steals in 34 minutes of effort.

Senior guard Katelyn Smith matched Kolani's figures from the field as both veterans shot 7-for-12 from the floor; Smith finished second on the Pioneers in scoring with 18 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.

The first quarter between the Pioneers and Lions was an offensive onslaught from each teams' parking lots: Mt. St. Joseph's Brilyn Webb shot a perfect 4-for-4 from outside to hit double-digit scoring in the first quarter, but Kolani and Kline each knocked down three of five attempts from beyond the arc to combine for 18 points in the first quarter on the way to a 26-22 lead.

Kolani continued her scoring pace in the second quarter, scoring 15 points by the halftime break as the Pioneers maintained a slim four-point lead.

The hometown Lions would not go away in the third quarter as Brilyn Webb posted another seven points in the frame, but Transylvania freshman forward Kristen Hayes stepped up with an all-around six point quarter to pace along the Pioneers to a 61-56 lead after three quarters.

Hayes continued her rhythm to begin the final quarter as she coasted to the hoop for a bucket to give her visiting Pioneers a 63-56 lead. Kolani next struck with her sixth made 3-pointer of the game to grow Transylvania's lead back to 10.

The persistent Lions responded with a 6-0 run to cut Transy's lead down to four, but Smith quickly answered back with a 3-pointer and a layup on their next two possessions for a nine point lead with less than five minutes remaining.

Mt. St. Joseph tried to mount one final run down the stretch, but clutch triples by Kline and Smith put the game out of reach for the Lions.

Transylvania outshot Mt. St. Joseph 45.8 percent from the field versus 43.1 percent for the home team, but the Pios' three point excellence provided them with an effective field goal percentage of 59.3 percent on the night.*

Transylvania has now won eight of their last 10 games and are 14-1 in games played in January over the past two seasons.

Now at the midway point of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference campaign, the Pioneers find themselves with a 7-2 record in HCAC play as they prepare for the second leg of meetings with conference opposition.

The Pioneers' first conference rematch of the season pits them against Rose-Hulman, who beat Transy on a buzzer-beater in Terre Haute, Indiana earlier this January.

The game is tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Beck Center with regard to the impending "nor'easter" blizzard forecasted to cover the bluegrass region and beyond.

Follow Transylvania Women's basketball on twitter at @TUWBX

*effective field-goal percentage is an emerging basketball metric used to weight the effect of three-point shooting on a team's field-goal output.