Box Score Hanover, Ind. – The Transylvania women's basketball team unleashed an all-out offensive blitz in the second and third quarters to roar to an 87-67 win over the Hanover College Panthers on Friday evening at Collier Arena.
Squaring off with the Panthers for the first of two meetings scheduled on the weekend, the Pioneers outscored Hanover 31-21 in the second quarter for a budding eight-point halftime lead before unleashing a 20-0 run out of the halftime break to storm to victory.
The Pioneers improved to 9-5 overall and 7-2 against Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponents. Hanover fell to 4-2 overall and 4-2 versus HCAC opposition. Transylvania handed Hanover its first loss of the season at home as the Panthers dropped to 2-1 at Collier Arena.
The 87-point total was the largest of the season for Transylvania, surpassing its 83 points scored against Bluffton on December 12, 2020.
Using a late second-quarter outburst, Zenoviah Walker paced the Pioneers with a game-high 17 points on 7 for 12 shooting from the floor and a 3 for 5 mark from behind the arc.
Madison Kellione matched Walker with 17 points on 7 for 13 shooting, making 3 of 6 triples and added five assists, five rebounds, and three steals in a complete performance.
Transylvania and Hanover jousted evenly in the first quarter with the Pioneers hitting 44 percent from the field and Hanover connecting at a 43 percent clip, leading to a 19-17 Hanover advantage at the end of one quarter.
The Pioneers commenced their first significant explosion of the night when Kennedi Stacy knocked down two treys and Grace Shope added another in the first 2:10 of the second quarter. Walker hit on a jumper for a 30-28 Transylvania lead with 6:57 to go in the half.
Hanover would retake the lead at 36-32 with three and a half minutes left in the second quarter, but Walker began her tear with a coasting layup; Kellione supplemented Walker's output with a corresponding trey. Walker added another triple on the following possession and Hanover answered with a jumper at the 1:50 mark, but Walker found the hoop again on an offensive rebound and putback to give the Pioneers a 42-40 advantage.
Walker's second-chance bucket spurred an 8-0 run to end the half as Kellione hit a runner at the halftime buzzer for a 48-40 lead.
The Pioneers hit on 8 of 20 three-pointers in the first half and 56 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes while the Panthers could only muster 2 for 11 shooting from outside.
The enduring stanza of the game came after halftime as the Pioneers outscored Hanover 20-0 over the first six minutes of the half. The Panthers did not make a field goal until 1:40 remaining in the third quarter, with the Pioneers' lead ballooning to 70-43 by that point.
Transylvania outscored Hanover 24-7 in the third quarter to carry a towering 25-point lead into the final quarter. The Pioneers leaned on their defense the rest of the way, holding Hanover to 6 for 15 shooting in the fourth quarter to clinch the 20-point victory.
For the game, Transylvania shot 49 percent from the floor, and hit 10 of 32 three-pointers while the Panthers only connected on 5 of 20 three-point attempts. Transylvania won the battle of the boards 50-38.
Four Pioneers scored in double figures as Shope tallied 10 points, five rebounds, and three steals while Stacy added 11 points, five rebounds, and five assists off the bench. Calynn Jackson led all players with six dimes and added four rebounds, six points, and two steals in 21 minutes of work.
Six Pioneers had four or more rebounds to lead a physical performance.
Transylvania and Hanover will rematch in Lexington on Sunday, February 14 at 2:00 p.m. from the Beck Center to start off the final week of HCAC regular-season play.
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