WHITEWATER, Wis. - Sixty-three was the magic number on Friday night, as the No. 2 ranked Pioneers won their 63rd consecutive game with a 63-58 win in front of a packed house in Whitewater, Wisconsin to extend their longest active win streak in any sport in the NCAA.

The Pioneers overcame a six point deficit at halftime and flipped the game over with a dominant 23-14 quarter and hit free throws late in the fourth to advance to the Elite Eight for the third consecutive season.

"We have a group of a lot of upperclassmen, and we knew it was going to be hard on the road." Head Coach Juli Fulks said after the win. "I thought our team did a really good job of finding ways to keep scoring and keep rebounding when we were in some different lineups early." Ten different Pioneers saw action in the win.

Transylvania held the lead for most of the first quarter, but was held scoreless for the final 3:20 heading into the second quarter. UW-Stout scored five straight points in the final three minutes of the quarter to take a one point lead heading into the second.

Transy took their first lead of the second quarter (18-16) at the 6:23 mark as Dasia Thornton was fouled on a made layup and hit the free throw. The Blue Devils responded with a three pointer, one of their four on the night with 5:35 to play in the half to take the lead. Transy went into the half down 23-29, their biggest halftime deficit of the season. It's the second time this season the Pioneers trailed at halftime.

"I thought Stout's defensive pressure was really really good. We were concerned coming in. We just wanted to get in there and calm everybody down and talk the reads that were open and what they were taking away and what they were giving us. It's kind of like the same thing as Mount St. Joseph… we kind of just had to figure out how to get the first couple baskets and get everybody to relax a little bit." Fulks said after the win when talking about the team's halftime adjustments. "They (Transy) came out, we got scores inside right away to Dasia and started making them (Stout) have to adjust to that."
 

The Pioneers adjusted in a big way out of the half. Fifth Year Senior Dasia Thornton scored thirteen of her twenty-two points in the second half, with ten of those points coming in the third quarter.

"We overcame everything that was going on, whether that was the defensive things that Stout was coming with and just maybe the calls that were happening. We threw those things out of the window and we have to play our game. We don't care what anybody else says, we just have to do what we do." Thornton said following the win. She finished the game with twenty-two points and seven rebounds.

Transy tied the game early in the third quarter after a 6-1 run, capped off by a Sydney Wright three pointer. After back and forth action, Emilie Teall gave Transy their first lead of the half on a three pointer from the top of the key to make it 35-34 Pioneers. She'd later cap off a 9-0 run with a layup to cause a Stout timeout with Transy leading 41-34.

Both teams traded leads in the fourth quarter, but Transy would extend their lead to seven points with a minute left, and Sadie Wurth hit two free throws with a three point lead with thirteen seconds left to put the game away.

Kennedi Stacy finished the game with seventeen points and led the team with four assists. Eight different Pioneers scored in the win.

The Pioneers will face the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks tomorrow night in the Elite Eight game at 8 PM eastern time. The Warhawks defeated Hope College this evening 72-61.

Juli Fulks is now one win away from 400 victories as a head coach.

With a win tomorrow, Transylvania will reach the final four for the second straight season. The win tonight improves Transy to 30-0, the second time in program history and the second straight season the Pioneers have won 30 games.

To keep up with Transylvania Women's Basketball, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @tuwbx