(Raleigh, NC)- Snow and ice didn't stop the Shaw Lady Bears from battling back from a 17-point first half deficit against the Tusculum Pioneers.

Tusculum (4-5) made the icy trip from Tennessee to Raleigh for the game that was played in front of a sparse crowd, no doubt due to the weather conditions in the area. In the first half, Shaw (5-2) looked like the weather had an adverse effect on their game. For the second straight game, the Lady Bears came out of the gate sluggish and allowed the competition to build a large lead.

"I'm not worried. We've been playing really good teams – this is the type of schedule we wanted to put together to help us prepare for the post season," said Shaw Head Coach Jacques Curtis. "We changed our lineup and didn't have a chance to practice, so our chemistry is a little off."

Tusculum, led by their senior guard, Jasmine Gunn, coupled with the shooting ability of sophomore guard Kendal Baxter, created problems for the Lady Bears defense. "Number three (Kendal Baxter) shooting the deep ball stretched us out and we didn't always get back inside to stop Gunn," said Curtis.

With 11 minutes left in the first half, Tusculum began to pull away led by a three-pointer that was five feet beyond the arc from Baxter, increasing their lead to nine, 20-11. Shaw continued to fight, as they closed the gap to four, 22-18, with a three drained by Shaw's Janelle Harrison. The Pioneers again stretched out their lead, increasing their advantage to 17 with 5:11 left in the first half.

The Lady Bears pulled a 180 in the second half.

Shaw shot 46% in the second half, opposed to 37% in the first, and only missed three free throws in the second half. The turning point for Shaw was a 9-0 run that spanned over two minutes in the beginning of the second half that cut the Tusculum lead to three, 53-50.

Tusculum, who started the season ranked fourth in Division II polls, continued to build their lead throughout the second half, but Shaw continued to match the Pioneers point-for-point and pulled away in the last two minutes off of two three-pointers by Kyria Buford and Brittney Spencer.

With the lead at one and 30 seconds on the clock, the Lady Bears provided strong defense, forcing a turnover as the ball hit Gunn's leg and rolled out of bounds – giving Shaw the ball with less than a second left in the game.

Shaw's Harrison was one assist shy of a triple-double, as she had 10 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists. The Lady Bears were led by Aslea Williams and Kyria Buford, who had 20 and 16 points, respectively.

The Pioneers were led by Jasmine Gunn, who accounted for 33 of their 77 points and had seven rebounds. Jasmine Parker had nine rebounds to lead Tusculum.

Tusculum out rebounded the Lady Bears 46-41 and outshot Shaw 42.1% to 41.4% on the game.

Shaw returns to action Saturday when they travel to Washington, DC to take on #2 Lander at 1:00 p.m. in the UDC Holiday Classic. They return home on Thursday, January 6 to open their CIAA season against Saint Paul's.