SALEM, W.Va. - The Trevecca women's basketball team (3-5, 1-0 G-MAC) opened Great Midwest Athletic Conference play with a road win at Salem International University (0-8, 0-1 G-MAC), knocking off the Tigers 72-51 at the T. Edward Davis Gymnasium on the Salem campus.

Trevecca will visit Ohio Valley University (0-6, 0-1 G-MAC) for a Saturday G-MAC game at 1:00 p.m. Watch TNU/OVU Live

Trevecca now leads the series with Salem 4-0. The teams will meet again in Nashville on February 28, 2015 at the Trojan Fieldhouse.

Trevecca coach Gary Van Atta commented on the tough defense and ball protection, "I thought we played great second half defense and didn't turn the ball over."

Trevecca tops in the G-MAC in turnover margin with a +5.17 per game margin. Trevecca turns the ball over just 14.3 per game to their opponents giving up the ball 19.5 times per game. In the game against Salem, Trevecca turned it over eight (8) times while Salem gave it up 22 times. Trevecca scored 23 points off of those miscues.

Van Atta continued, "Our bench was the difference in the game. I thought Chari Swift (FR/Dyersburg, TN) came off the bench and gave us a huge lift in the second half."

Swift came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points. She added three rebounds. Trevecca's bench scored 26 points to just two for the Tigers reserves. 

Van Atta was also excited about the second half scoring, "We scored 40 in the second half, which is probably the most in a half all year. It was a hard fought game and Salem played well, we are glad to get our first conference win, our first conference win on the road."

The 40 second half points are the most the Trojans have scored in a half this year. The previous high was 35 in the 2nd half against Truman State University in the second game of the year. 

Trevecca led for most of the game and never trailed. The Tigers did tie the game on three occasions. The first was at 2-2, then after Trevecca established a 12-2 lead, the Tigers rallied to tie the game at 23-23 and then again at 25-25 with 4:27 left in the first half.

Salem would not be able to catch the Trojans again, but did cut the Trojan lead to one (29-28) with less than a minute left in the first half. Helen Mitchner (JR/Mt. Juliet, TN) put the Trojans up four (32-28) at the half with a three pointer with :31 remaining in the half.

The Tigers hung close through the first 10 minutes of the second half and trailed by just six (49-43) with 9:50 left in the game. The upset was not to be though as the Trojans turned on the jets and pulled away for the 21-point road victory.  

Trevecca used a 19-6 run to take a 19-point (68-49) lead with 2:56 left. Chari Swift scored all 10 of her points in that final 9:50, eight of those in the 19-6 run.

Paige Baugher (JR/Mt. Juliet, TN) led the way for Trevecca with 15 points and added six rebounds and a team-high three steals. Along with Swift, Kaci Britt Bell (SR/Mt. Juliet, TN) added 10 points to round out the double-figure scorers for TNU. Sarah Raby (SO/Lynchburg, TN) had a team-high seven rebounds and six points and a block. Morgan Long (SO/Summertown, TN) also had six rebounds. Christina Curtner (SR/Chapel Hill, TN) and Haley Felker (SR/Kingston Springs, TN) had a team-high three assists. Felker was 2-4 from three-point range and equaled Baugher with three steals.

Ten different Trojans scored and 13 different Trojans grabbed at least one rebound.

As a team the Trojans shot 38% (26-68) from the field and hit 71% (15-21) from the foul line. Trevecca had a 41-35 advantage in rebounding.

Samantha Aikens led the Tigers with 22 points and seven rebounds.