NEWS & CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

The Class of 2010 has begun looking toward life after Tusculum College and is making plans to leave a mark on campus before their time here comes to an end. A tradition at the college, this year’s senior class is currently raising funds to leave a permanent improvement on campus in recognition of their time at Tusculum College.

This year’s class is working to purchase a new banner for Niswonger Commons that will proudly display the College’s Alma Mater. The banner will be placed above the entrance of the Pioneer Perk for all future Pioneers to see. The goal of the campaign is $500, and several donations have already been made.

In addition to the students, all faculty, staff, parents and friends of the College are encouraged to participate by making a contribution to the 2010 Senior Class Gift campaign. All seniors are being asked to make a gift - in any amount - in honor of a professor, administrator, friend or parent who has had a positive impact during their college career.

The campaign is being led by members of the Senior Class Gift Campaign Committee which identified the project as a gift they would like to complete and leave as a legacy for future Tusculum College students.

“By participating, it’s a way to bring back tradition at Tusculum College and leave our mark as a graduating class,” said Ashley Shoults, chair of the Senior Gift Committee. Shoults, who graduates in May, is a political science major from Newark, Ohio.

“It doesn’t matter how much the gift is, we really just want everyone to participate,” Shoults added.

There is also still time to participate and support the project. If you are interested in participating in the Senior Gift Campaign, contact Shoults at ashoults@students.tusculum.edu or

Cody Greene ‘08, coordinator of development and alumni relations, in the Office of Advancement at 423-636-7303 or by emailing ccgreene@tusculum.edu. Gifts can also be made online at www.tusculum.edu/giving/gift.php.

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The Tusculum College women’s basketball team erased a 16-point deficit to upset top-seeded Lander University 70-63, Monday night in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship game at Horne Arena on the Lander campus.

With its NCAA Region title, the first in program history, the Pioneers have punched their ticket for the NCAA II Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Mo. Tusculum will carry its nine-game winning streak into its national quarterfinal match-up on March 23 as they face No. 1 Gannon University (36-0) at the St. Joseph Civic Arena.

Junior guard Jasmine Gunn led the Pioneers with 30 points, shooting 11-for-20 from the floor and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw stripe. Gunn, who averaged 32 points per game during her three contests in Greenwood, was named the Regional Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

The seventh-seeded Pioneers trailed 24-8 at the 12:27 mark of the first half as the 11th-ranked Bearcats made its first eight shots from the floor. But Tusculum would outscore the Bearcats by a 62-39 margin for the remainder the game and end Lander’s school-record 14-game winning streak.

Tusculum knocked off the top three regional seeds en route to capturing the Southeast title and upping its nine-game winning streak, including four of its last five wins coming against nationally-ranked opponents.

Sophomore forward Staci Hicks added 11 points for the Pioneers, while the team’s only senior Kat Spears scored 10 markers. Six-foot-eight center Catherine Hintz added six points and a team-high nine rebounds, while freshman guard Kendal Baxter added three crucial 3-pointers for her nine points. Gunn also had six assists and three steals, while scoring her 1,600th career point and established a new South Atlantic Conference single-season record with 216 made free throws this year.

Lander, with a roster of four juniors and eight sophomores, was led by junior forward Shannon McKever’s 15 points and junior foward Tasheba Butler’s double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds). Sophomore guards Brittni Johnson and Nardia Robbins led the Bearcats with five assists apiece.

Joining Gunn on the All-Tournament team were Hintz, McKever, Butler and Francis Marion’s Nicole Mealing.

The Bearcats jumped on top early with a dominant inside game. McKever opened the scoring with a wide-open lay-up off a pass from Butler on Lander’s second possession of the game. And after Gunn spun a lay-up to tie the score at 2-2, the Bearcats went on a 12-2 run.

McKever hit a reverse lay-up off a long pass from Johnson to get the streak started, Ciara Lyons made a lay-up off Jasmine Judge’s back-court steal, Butler scored twice inside on a short jumper and open lay-up, McKever hit two foul shots, and then Kaylyn Small came off the bench and got into the act with a reverse lay-up for a 14-4 lead at the 15:44 mark.

That opened up Lander’s outside game with Mukia Myrick and Brianna Webb each hitting 3-pointers, making it 20-8 with 14:20 to go as the Bearcats were 8-for-8 from the floor at that point. Another post reserve, Keondra Barnes, came in and scored twice in the paint including an offensive rebound put-back for a 24-8 advantage with 12:27 left.

But Gunn got her game going with a driving lay-up to get Tusculum into double figures at 24-10 and added an assist inside to Hicks before Hintz made her presence felt with two close-up baskets to pull the Pioneers within 26-16 at the 10-minute mark. Lyons made two free throws for the Bearcats to end Tusculum’s 8-2 run, making it 28-16 with 9:15 left.

After Webb hit a jumper as the shot clock was winding down to give Lander a 30-20 lead with 6:25 to go. The Pioneers went on a big run to pull within a possession. Hicks got the run started with a jumper from inside the top of the key, junior Brittni Oliver hit a 3-pointer from the left corner after a steal by Baxter, and Gunn got a steal near the top of the key and drove down for a lay-up to pull Tusculum within three (30-27) with 5:15 left.

Myrick’s base-line drive for a lay-up ended the Pioneers’ 7-0 run, but Gunn answered with two free throws to pull TC back within a possession again at 32-29 with 4:29 remaining.

But both teams went cold with a series of turnovers and missed shots.

After five scoreless possessions by each team, Lander finally got on the board when Small took a pass from Johnson and made a lay-up to give the Bearcats a 34-29 advantage with 45 seconds left in the half. But Gunn got a steal and hit Spears in stride with a long pass that she converted into a lay-up that pulled Tusculum within 34-31 with 17 seconds left, and that would be the score at halftime.

The Pioneers got back into the game with a 23-10 run over the last 11-plus minutes of the first half. After Lander hit its first eight shots in the first six minutes of the game, the Bearcats were only 6-for-21 the rest of the half.

Gunn swished a jumper from near the free throw line in the first minute of the second half to cut Tusculum’s deficit to one before McKever hit one of two free throws to put Lander back up by two. After a Pioneers turnover, McKever passed back outside to Judge for an open three-pointer to give the Bearcats a 38-33 lead.

But Tusculum refused to let Lander build on that lead. Hicks hit a baseline jumper and two free throws on consecutive possessions to pull the Lady Pioneers within one, and Baxter gave Tusculum its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer from the right side for a 40-38 advantage at the 17:09 mark. Gunn, who got the assist on Baxter’s trey, then drove to the basket and scored to make it 42-38 to complete a 9-0 run.

McKever’s weak-side put-back pulled the Bearcats within 42-40. But Lander failed on its next three possessions to tie or regain the lead. Baxter made Lander pay with a long 3-pointer to give Tusculum its biggest lead of the game at 45-40.

The Bearcats answered with Robbins hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and after Small got a steal in the Tusculum paint, Webb hit a trey to put Lander back on top, 46-45, with 13:19 to go.

Myrick’s free throw put the Bearcats up by two, but Gunn drove around several Lander defenders to tie the game at 47-all with 10:44 left.

Spears hit a mid-range jumper and a basket in the paint to put the Pioneers back on top, 51-47. After a Lander bucket, Spears made another shot in the paint to put Tusculum up by four, 53-49, with 8:42 to go. Gunn’s jumper gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the game at six points, 53-47, before McKever scored twice inside to cut Lander’s deficit back to two.

Gunn spun around a defender to give TC a 57-53 lead, but Lander tied the game on Butler’s jumper in the paint and Johnson’s driving lay-up to make it 57-all with 5:02 remaining.

Gunn’s free throws put the Pioneers back on top 59-57 with 4:41 to go and Baxter hit a long, NBA- range trey to extend Tusculum’s lead to 62-57 with 3:16 remaining.

And after Butler hit a jumper, Gunn drove inside, was fouled and hit two free throws to make it 64-59 with 2:19 left.

Butler scored another basket in the paint to pull Lander within three with 1:57 remaining, but Gunn came through for Tusculum again, splitting two defenders for another lay-up and a 66-61 advantage with 1:40 left.

After a long Bearcats possession took several seconds off the clock, Myrick was fouled on an offensive rebound and hit two free throws to pull Lander back within a possession again at 66-63 with 57 seconds left.

But Oliver got loose under the basket, was fouled, and hit a free throw for a 67-63 lead. Lander missed three shots in a row and was then called for an offensive foul, all but sealing its fate.

Hicks hit one of two free throws and after Judge’s 3-point shot rimmed out, Gunn hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left for the game’s final points to set off a wild celebration on the bench and in the stands behind the Tusculum players.

For the game, Lander hit 25-of-66 shots from the floor (38 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), and 5-of-22 from 3-point range (23 percent).

Tusculum made 26 of 50 shots (52 percent), 14-of-16 free throws (88 percent), and 4-of-9 from behind the arc (44 percent).

Tusculum and Lander have met in the last three NCAA Tournaments. Lander eliminated the Pioneers in TC’s first-ever NCAA postseason appearance in 2008. TC knocked off the Bearcats in last year’s NCAA opening round.

Tusculum’s trip to the NCAA Elite Eight will be the Pioneers first and the fifth time a South Atlantic Conference team has advanced to the NCAA national quarterfinals.

Tusculum’s next opponent, Gannon, defeated Millersville for the Atlantic title and has the nation’s second-longest NCAA winning streak behind Division I powerhouse Connecticut.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Tusculum College women’s basketball team has punched its ticket for the 2010 NCAA Division II Tournament and will be the No. 7 seed in the Southeast Regional, hosted by Lander University in Greenwood, S.C.

The Pioneers (20-9), who are making their third straight NCAA postseason appearance, will open first round action this Friday against second-seeded Clayton State University (24-6). The game will be at 2:30 p.m. at Finis Horne Arena on the campus of Lander University in Greenwood, S.C.  Tickets are $5 for general admission and $3 for children and students with a valid ID.

Tusculum won Sunday’s Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship game by defeating Newberry College, 67-55 to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was the Pioneers’ first SAC Tournament championship in school history.

Friday’s first round game with Clayton State will mark the second time the Pioneers and Lakers have met this year. CSU edged Tusculum 87-79 in overtime at the OrthoCarolina Classic in Wingate, N.C. on Dec. 19. It will also be a rematch of last season’s second round regional contest with CSU as the Lakers posted a 79-68 win over the Pioneers in Hickory, N.C. The Pioneers are 0-4 all-time against Clayton State.

The Pioneers are riding a six-game winning streak entering this year’s NCAA Tournament and have also won 11 of its last 13 outings for first-year head coach Adell Harris.

Leading the charge for Tusculum is South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year Jasmine Gunn. The 4-11 junior guard from Nashville, Tenn., is averaging 20.7 points, five assists and three steals per game. She is the only player in NCAA Division II this season to be ranked in the top 25 nationally in points, assists and steals. In her three SAC Tournament games, she averaged 24.7 points per contest, earning her SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.

Clayton State is making their sixth straight NCAA postseason appearance as the 24th-ranked Lakers won the Peach Belt Conference Tournament by knocking off 18th-ranked Francis Marion University, 94-75 in Sunday’s PBC title game. Clayton State is the defending Southeast Regional champion as the Lakers advanced to last year’s NCAA II Elite Eight.

The winner of the Tusculum/Clayton State game will advance to the second round and face either No. 3 seed Francis Marion or sixth seeded Newberry.

Hosting this year’s regional is Lander as the Bearcats will open against No. 8 seed Anderson University. SAC regular season champion Lenoir-Rhyne University will be the No. 4 seed in the regional and they will take on fifth-seeded Carson-Newman College in the opening round.

Please visit the Tusculum College Athletic web site for more information.

- NCAA -

2010 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional
Hosted by Lander University ▪ Greenwood, S.C.
No. 1 Lander vs. No. 8 Anderson (S.C.)
No. 4 Lenoir-Rhyne vs. No. 5 Carson-Newman
No. 3 Francis Marion vs. No. 6 Newberry
No. 2 Clayton State vs. No. 7 Tusculum

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Tusculum College, Greeneville campus, will operate  on a two-hour delay for Thursday, February 18, due to icy road conditions.

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Graduate and Professional Studies classes have been canceled for both Friday, January 8 and Saturday, January 9, 2010.

All Tusculum College’s campuses and sites, including the Greeneville campus, the Knoxville Regional Center and the sites in Morristown and Gray will be closed on Friday, January 8, 2010.

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Rows of ribbons, shelves of hats, stacks of shoes and a colorful burst of fabrics delight the eye when entering the Arts Outreach Costume Shoppe on the campus of Tusculum College.

More than 20 years of dramatic history unfolds along the walls of the Costume Shoppe, with costumes from “The Wizard of Oz” snuggling next to the silky fabrics used for the eye-popping costumes of “The Mikado.”  A lion head towers over the room and a bejeweled crown sits by waiting on the next King Lear or King Midas.

Now bursting at the seams, the Costume Shoppe got its start in 2002 and is funded in part by a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission. In addition to serving the College and its annual theatre and music productions, the Costume Shoppe also strives to meet the mission of the Arts Outreach program and offers its unique service to local schools and community groups.

The costumes are not rented, but are loaned out to schools and groups who use them for school plays, special events and community productions. The Costume Shoppe offers a wide assortment of costumes for Arts Outreach programs and any school performance, from full-scale musicals to single-student presentations. The only fees involved are that the garments must be cleaned before they are returned.

Last year there were 10 area schools that participated in the costume lending program, as well as the Jonesborough Reparatory Theater, Central Ballet Theater and a community group in Johnson City who borrowed several Civil War costumes, according to current Costume Director Barbara Holt.

But the marvel of visiting the Costume Shoppe is the history of the past and the heart and soul of years of costume-makers who have brought the fabric to life in productions ranging from the “Bye Bye Birdie” to “Guys and Dolls,” and according to Holt, many of the pieces have be used, repurposed and used again. “It is not uncommon for some of these pieces to have been a part of two or more productions through the years.”

The Costume Shoppe allows for the storage of past costumes as well as donations that come in from local individuals and businesses that support the Arts Outreach program at the College. There are walls of thread and zippers, patterns and zebra prints that have been purchased, donated or reused for other garments through the years.

“This is a labor of love for me,” said Holt. “I love working with fabrics, and I love to sew. I am energized by the actors and have met some of the most amazing people. My life is enriched by just being part of the Arts Outreach program.”

Holt has been with the Arts Outreach program for the past 16 years in one capacity or another and took over as costume director in 2008. She has worked tirelessly to catalogue and organize the materials they have amassed through the years.

“There are some amazing pieces here from people like Judith Plucker, Ann Birdwell and Debbie Close. There were such amazing people involved here through the years,” said Holt.

And while they do reuse many of the costumes in each production, each year the call comes for new costumes to be made. According to Holt, each production may take 1,000 or more hours in costume production. Much of the work is done by Holt and her army of volunteers (more than 90 on a production such as “The Wizard of Oz”), but in some cases outside help is needed.  Holt said it took upwards of 60 hours to make one kilt used in the production of “Brigadoon.”

“Barbara has been with me for more than 16 years when I first came to know her through her son, Seth, one of our performers,” said Marilyn duBrisk, artist-in-residence and director of arts outreach. “She is an absolute joy to work with and Tusculum College is so lucky to have her.”

She added, “There have been so many times when in the middle of production and she has literally 100 or more cast members to costume and she just manages to stay calm and inspire her volunteers.”

The Costume Shoppe and its many wonders are part of the magic of Tusculum College’s Arts Outreach programs and productions. And to make it all come alive, in the words of Peter Pan, all you need is “faith, trust and pixie dust” and maybe a zipper and a snap and a bolt of shiny, gold fabric.

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The staff of Tusculum College’s Enrollment Management Office celebrated the Holiday season by giving back to the community.  The group participated in a service project in recognition of the season by volunteering to help sort, organize and prepare toys for the Gifts for Kids distribution this past weekend. Among those participating and pictured above are Robin Crabtree ‘07, records, resources and communications manager; Eric Allen, admission representative, and Aaron Porter, ‘07, assistant director of admission.

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Thirty parents and children turned out at Tusculum College’s Thomas J. Garland Library in November for the first “Children’s Story Hour,” held on the Greeneville campus.

The event, held for all Tusculum College staff and faculty family members ages eight and under, was coordinated by the library staff and supported by volunteers from the Bonner Leader organization.

In addition to exciting stories, the library guests were also treated to craft activities and refreshments.

“We were very excited about the turnout,” said Kathy Hipps, information literacy librarian and assistant cataloger. Hipps also thanked the two Bonner Leader volunteers who served as readers, Scott Lucky, a senior from Orangevale, Calif., and Mara Rutherford, a sophomore from Morristown.

According to Hipps, the event went so well, a second “Children’s Story Hour” is now on the schedule. The next event will be held on Thursday, February 11, at 6 p.m.

For more information, contact Hipps at khipps@tusculum.edu or at Ext. 5123.

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Tusculum College will host its annual Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon, Wednesday, November 11, at 11:30 a.m. at the Chalmers Conference Center, located in the Niswonger Commons on the Greeneville campus.

Tusculum men’s basketball coach Jim Boone and women’s coach Adell Harris will speak, along with Pioneer players and coaches.

The cost of the luncheon is $10 per person, and attendees are asked to RSVP by Friday, November 6, at (423) 636-7303 or email Barb Sell at bsell@tusculum.edu.

The Tusculum men’s team is ranked fourteenth in the nation according to the National Basketball Coaches Association Division II Preseason Poll.  The Pioneers return four starters from last year’s 20-11 squad that finished second in the South Atlantic Conference and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.  Coach Boone is entering his fifth year on the Tusculum sidelines as he returns South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year and All-American guard Kyle Moore (Gainesville, Fla.), who led the league in scoring averaging 21.1 points per game.

Coach Harris is entering her first season guiding the basketball fortunes of the Tusculum women’s program.  The Pioneers have won back-to-back South Atlantic Conference Championships, while advancing to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons.  Returning for Tusculum is junior All-American guard Jasmine Gunn (Antioch, Tenn.), who led Tusculum in scoring (15.5 ppg), assists (5.8 apg) and steals (2.0 spg) last year.

Media members attending the Tip-Off Luncheon are asked to contact Dom Donnelly, Tusculum College athletic media relations director, at (423) 636-7326 or email at ddonnelly@tusculum.edu.

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