GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's basketball team can clinch its first South Atlantic Conference regular-season championship since 2011 with a victory in their regular-season finale on Wednesday evening at UVA Wise. Game time from the David J. Prior Convocation Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
The Pioneers (15-2, 15-2 SAC) grabbed first place from Carson-Newman by a half-game after a pair of victories last week. Tusculum beat Lincoln Memorial 71-62 on Wednesday after trailing by 15 in the third quarter, then rolled to an 84-59 win at Coker to improve its road record to 9-0. The Pioneers' nine straight road wins is tied for the fifth-longest active road winning streak in Division II, and is the most consecutive wins away from home for the Pioneers since winning nine in a row during the 1995-96 season.
Tusculum is already assured of finishing no worse than second in the conference, which would ensure that the Pioneers would receive an opening-round bye in the upcoming Pilot/Flying J SAC Women's Basketball Championship, which gets underway with five first-round contests on Saturday, Feb. 27. The quarterfinal round will be played on Monday, March 1 and the semifinals on Thursday, March 4, with the championship game on Sunday, March 7 all at campus sites. If the Pioneers grab the top seed, it will give them homecourt advantage for the duration as they seek their second straight SAC Championship title.
UVA Wise (13-4, 12-4 SAC) has been consistently among the top four teams in the conference this season and still has a chance to grab a top-three spot in the final standings. The Cavaliers won their third straight road game on Monday night, earning an 81-68 victory at Mars Hill on 49 percent shooting from the field. After opening the season with a 79-68 loss at Tusculum on Nov. 24, UVA Wise reeled off 10 straight wins before dropping three of their last six, including a 75-53 home loss to Wingate on Saturday.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Senior center Maddie Sutton continues to stake her claim as the SAC Player of the Year as she enjoyed another monster performance in Saturday's win at Coker. Sutton scored a career-high 33 points on 11-for-14 shooting from the field and a career-best 11-for-12 at the foul line, and added 11 rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes. Sutton's double-double was her 11th in a row and her 15th of the season, which leads Division II. She has climbed to sixth in the SAC in scoring average (15.6 ppg) and continues to lead the conference in rebounding at 15.2 per game which is second-best in Division II. Sutton has played at least 34 minutes in all but two games this season, both of which the Pioneers won by more than 40 points.
Senior guard Jalia Arnwine has scored 22 points in back-to-back games, and has reached double figures in each of the last four contests (16.5 ppg). Arnwine has drilled 18 three-pointers over the last four games, and is up to third in the SAC in made three-pointers with 41. Arnwine is averaging 13.3 points per game for the season and has reached double figures in scoring 13 times.
Senior guard Brianna Dixon has the team's longest streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer, having hit one in eight straight. Over that stretch, Dixon is 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) from long range and is 10 for her last 15 from beyond the arc (66.7 percent). Dixon had seven points, eight rebounds and six assists against Coker on Saturday, setting a career high in assists and coming one shy of her season high in rebounds.
Junior guard Marta Rodrigues played every second in last week's games, and has done so eight times in 17 games this season to rank third in Division II in minutes per game (38.7). Rodrigues is shooting 33.3 percent (19-for-57) from three-point range, but has made at least one three in seven of the last nine games. Rodrigues has not had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio in any game this season, and ranks 12th in Division II with a ratio of 2.72-to-1 (106 assists to 39 turnovers).
The Pioneers continue to lead the SAC in scoring defense (56.2 ppg, 17th in Division II) and have yet to allow 70 points to an opponent. Tusculum also leads the conference in field-goal defense (33.8 percent, 14th in DII), three-point defense (27.5 percent, 31st) and scoring margin (+16.2 ppg, 13th). On offense, the Pioneers lead the SAC in three-pointers made per game (9.5, 12th) and three-point percentage (38.2 percent, 9th), and average a conference-best 13.8 turnovers per game (34th).
SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
UVA Wise defeated Mars Hill 81-68 on Monday night as sophomore guard Caitlyn Ross scored 18 points and added six rebounds and seven assists. Ada Stanley contributed 16 points on 7-for-7 shooting as the Cavaliers went 9-for-19 from three-point range and led 36-23 at halftime.
Ross is one of three Cavaliers averaging at least 14 points per game, checking in at 14.5 points per game while leading the SAC in assists per game (6.6) and averaging 5.5 rebounds per contest. Ross has recorded 13 or more assists in a game four times this season, including a triple-double of 24 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists against Carson-Newman on Feb. 10.
Senior forward Kalee Johnson leads the team and is fifth in the conference in scoring at 15.8 points per game, and ranks seventh in the league with 8.3 rebounds per contest. Freshman guard Nia Vanzant is eighth in the league in scoring at 15.1 points per game and has scored in double figures in 14 of 17 games.
UVA Wise leads the SAC in free-throw percentage at 77.2 percent, and ranks second in the conference in field-goal percentage at 45.0 percent. The Cavs are second in three-point defense to Tusculum at 29.1 percent, and are averaging 79.9 points per game to trail only Carson-Newman (81.6 ppg).
SERIES HISTORY
Tusculum leads the all-time series with UVA Wise by a 21-7 margin, and the 79-68 win on Nov. 24 gave the Pioneers three straight wins over the Cavaliers for the first time since Tusculum won five in a row from Feb. 21, 1995 through Nov. 23, 1998. The Pioneers' 69-63 win at Wise last Feb. 5 was their first victory at Wise since Dec. 11, 2000, although Tusculum played at Wise just once in that 19-year interval, a 74-66 loss on Nov. 28, 2015. Tusculum has a 7-6 advantage in the 13 games played at Wise in the series.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
Coverage of all the action of Tusculum women's basketball is on the Pioneer Sports Network, with pregame coverage starting 15 minutes before tip. Fans can listen locally on WSMG Radio at 95.5 FM and 1450 AM, and on-line at jewel955.com. Live video and live stats links for all games are available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.
