GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Aliyah Miller continued her hot start to the season with a game-high 22 points as Tusculum University led wire-to-wire in a 79-68 win over UVA Wise in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action Tuesday night at Pioneer Arena.
Miller, who was named SAC Player of the Week following a 23-point performance in the season opener against Wingate on Saturday, added a career-high eight rebounds and went 8-for-8 from the foul line for the Pioneers (2-0, 2-0 SAC), who placed four players in double figures and led by as many as 20 points in the second half. She is the first Tusculum player to score at least 20 points in each of the first two games of the season since All-American Jasmine Gunn in 2009-10.
Maddie Sutton recorded her second straight double-double with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds as the Pioneers outrebounded the Cavaliers (0-1, 0-1 SAC) by a 53-34 margin, including 20 offensive boards. Jalia Arnwine contributed 18 points and Marta Rodrigues finished with 12 points and a game-high six assists for the Pioneers, who led 52-37 at halftime but shot just 25 percent (8-for-32) in the second half.
Caitlyn Ross led UVA Wise with 20 points and Meg Crawford added 16 points in 14 minutes off the bench, but the Cavaliers shot 39.3 percent (24-for-61) from the field and a dismal 12-for-23 (52.2 percent) at the foul line. Ada Stanley also hit double figures with 13 points along with team highs of eight rebounds and five assists for the Cavaliers, who fell to 1-13 all-time on the road against the Pioneers.
Miller hit her first four shots from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, and scored a game-high 10 points in the first quarter for the Pioneers. Tusculum built an early 9-2 lead but UVA Wise came back to knot the game at 12-12 on a three-pointer by Ross with 5:09 left in the first quarter. A three-pointer from Miller and back-to-back buckets from Sutton helped Tusculum back to a 19-15 lead, which grew to as many as seven points before a late three from Nia Vanzant brought UVA Wise back within 27-23 after one period.
Three-pointers from Hanna Oliver and Vanzant to open the second quarter tied the game for the final time at 29-29, but the Cavaliers would go scoreless for more than three minutes as back-to-back threes from Rodrigues and Arnwine pushed the Pioneers ahead 39-31 with 4:46 left in the first half. Arnwine hit all five of her shot attempts in the quarter, including two from three-point range, to end the half with 16 points as Tusculum carried a 52-37 lead to intermission.
Miller shared the scoring lead with Arnwine with 16 points in the first half as Tusculum shot an even 50 percent (20-for-40) from the field in the half, including 6-for-13 from three-point range. Sutton added 11 points and seven boards for the Pioneers, who had a 25-15 edge on the glass over the Cavaliers in the half. Stanley led UVA Wise with nine points, six rebounds and four assists with eight points from Ross and seven from Vanzant. The Cavaliers shot 43.8 percent (14-for-32) from the field and 6-for-12 from beyond the arc, but allowed the Pioneers to score 13 second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds.
Tusculum built its largest lead at 57-37 following two foul shots from Miller with 6:38 left in the third quarter, but both teams went ice cold from the floor as neither scored from the field for a span of more than 3 1/2 minutes until Brianna Dixon hit a three-pointer with 2:27 left for a 62-44 Tusculum lead. An eight-point spurt from the Cavaliers, highlighted by five points from Crawford, cut the Pioneer lead to 62-52 but Dixon hit a layup with 19 seconds left to send Tusculum to the fourth with a 64-52 lead.
The Pioneers' lead held steady through the fourth quarter, as the Pioneers never led by more than 14 or less than nine points. A Ross layup brought the Cavaliers within 72-63 with 3:39 left, but Dixon and Rodrigues hit key shots down the stretch and Miller and Sutton put the game away at the foul line in the final minute.
Dixon finished the game with seven points and was one shy of matching her career high in rebounds with nine. Rodrigues, who was held scoreless against Wingate in the season opener, hit three three-pointers and reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time in her career. Sutton's double-double was the 11th of her career and her fourth in her last five home games, dating to last season.
Off the bench, Deidre Cheremond finished with five points and two rebounds for the Pioneers to account for all of Tusculum's bench scoring in the game. UVA Wise's reserves combined for 25 points, as Crawford went 5-for-8 from the field and 6-for-10 at the foul line to account for her 16 points while Vanzant hit a pair of three-pointers and finished with seven points and five rebounds.
Tusculum will travel to Lincoln Memorial for the first of two meetings this season with the Railsplitters on Saturday at 2 p.m. LMU, led by former Tusculum coach Devan Carter, is also off to a 2-0 start following victories over Newberry and Coker to open the year.
