Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania women's basketball team cruised to a wire-to-wire 48-26 victory over the Adrian College Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at the Beck Center in the 2020-21 home opener.

Adding the Bulldogs to their schedule earlier in the week, the Pioneers played their first game in nearly a month and showed off their defensive intensity in their first home game of the season to pick up their first win of the 2020 campaign.

The 26 points by Adrian on Saturday was the lowest single-game output by a Pioneer opponent in the seven-year Juli Fulks era at Transylvania.

Transylvania improved to 1-2 on the year while Adrian took its first loss of the year to fall to 1-1 overall.

Zenoviah Walker paced all players with 10 points while Grace Shope reached double-digit rebounds with 11 on the day and led all players in thefts with four steals.

In a slowly developing offensive game, the Pioneers gradually built an insurmountable lead as they used a two-pronged attack to take control of the contest from the outset.

Transy grew a 7-0 lead at the midway point of the first quarter following an inside bucket from Miranda Otero and opened up the contest on a 9-0 run.

The Pioneers held Adrian to 1 for 12 shooting from the floor in the opening quarter to take a 13-2 lead after one quarter of play.

Transylvania's reserves carried the torch in the second quarter as Brooke Nottingham drained a pair of back-to-back runners and Sarah McDonald hit a long-distance trey on the way to a career-high six points to boost Transy's advantage to 20-6.

Walker closed out the half with one of her three triples on the afternoon to set the Pioneers' halftime lead at 26-7.

For the first half, the Pioneers forced Adrian into 15 turnovers and just seven percent shooting from the field.

Madison Kellione fueled the attack in the third quarter by getting to the free throw line with regularity, going 5 for 6 from the charity stripe in the frame to offset a 2 for 13 showing from the field by the Pios in the third quarter.

Transylvania put the finishing touches upon the contest with another dynamic defensive quarter in the fourth, holding Adrian to seven points for the decisive win.

The Pioneers shot 7 for 28 from three-point range (25 percent) and held Adrian to 2 for 18 shooting from deep (11 percent) on the afternoon.

Otero led the Pioneers with two blocks and added nine rebounds.

After playing three Division III opponents to begin the season, Transylvania will shift up to a December 20 showdown with Division I Morehead State University. The Pioneers will square off with the Eagles on the campus of Morehead State in Morehead, Kentucky at a time to be announced.

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