NEWBERRY - The Newberry College Lady Indian basketball team fell to 8-5 in the South Atlantic Conference and 19-5 overall with a third consecutive loss at the hands of Tusculum College. The Pioneers defeated Newberry 62-55 at Eleazer Arena.

Tied 29-29 at the half, Tusculum (13-12, 5-9) jumped out to a four point edge to start the second on Shantae Shank's lay-up at the 17:15 mark. With the score 37-33, neither team could find the bottom of the net for nearly three minutes. Finally a Cicely Jenkins jumper fell for Newberry and cut the Pioneer lead in half.

The Lady Indians took their first lead of the second half, 41-39, with 12:48 remaining after sophomore Laura Marquardt connected for a deuce.

Newberry was able to hold that lead until the 8:39 mark when Tusculum turned the tide with consecutive three-point shots. Diana Neves drained the first to tie the game at 47-47 and Brooke Underwood hit the second to give Tusculum the lead for good with 7:48 left. For the game, Tusculum shot 52.6 percent from behind the three-point line, knocking down 10-of-19 attempts.

Despite the loss, Newberry received a resurgent performance from junior forward and leading scorer Tonique Frasier. The Walterboro native exploded for a career-high 28 points on 12-of-27 shooting from the floor. The new career mark comes on the heels of a season-low eight point outing against Catawba on February 10. Frasier also dominated the glass with 17 rebounds, 11 of the offensive variety.

Junior guard Ashlee Wright had 16 points on 8-of-17 shooting along with five rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes.

For Tusculum, Ashli Oliver 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting including five three-pointers. Lindsay Barta had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Newberry College hits the road this Saturday for a 2 p.m. start in Wingate, N.C. against Wingate University.