ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum University women's basketball team has been picked to finish seventh in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Poll, the league office announced Wednesday.

The Pioneers finished 24-7 overall last season and captured the third SAC Championship tournament title in program history with a 61-49 victory over Anderson in the championship game. Tusculum, which finished fourth in the conference with a 16-6 league record, was poised to make the sixth NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in program history before the tournament was canceled by onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

First-year head coach Meagan Price welcomes back two starters from last year's squad, senior guard Jalia Arnwine (7.8 ppg) and senior center Maddie Sutton (9.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg). A total of 10 returning players are on the Pioneer roster this season, along with five transfer players and three additional newcomers.

The SAC grew to a 13-team conference in the offseason with the addition of Limestone, which won the Conference Carolinas championship last season and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. All teams will play a 20-game conference schedule, which will include eight round-robin games and single games against four additional opponents.

Carson-Newman (22-8, 17-5 SAC), which lost to Tusculum in the SAC Championship semifinals a year ago, earned seven first-place votes in the poll and 149 points to take the top spot in the survey. Anderson (26-5, 19-3), which won the regular-season championship a year ago, grabbed four first-place votes and 141 points to rank second. Catawba (23-6, 17-5) took the other two first-place votes and is third with 134 points.

Wingate (17-13, 11-11) is fourth with 116 points, followed by Newberry (16-12, 13-9) in fifth with 100 points and Lincoln Memorial (10-17, 9-13) with 94 points is in sixth, one point ahead of Tusculum at 93 points.

Limestone (24-7, 16-6 Conference Carolinas) is eighth with 87 points, with Virginia-Wise (12-16, 8-14) in ninth with 77 points and Lenoir-Rhyne (11-18, 9-13) in tenth with 67 points. Rounding out the poll is Coker (10-16, 7-15) with 45 points in 11th place, Queens (5-23, 4-18) in 12th with 41 points and Mars Hill (4-24, 2-20) with 26 points in 13th place.

Tusculum is scheduled to open the 2020-21 season at home against Wingate on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. at Pioneer Arena.

2020-21 SAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll