WISE, Va. --- UVA Wise scored the first 12 points of the game and held Tusculum University scoreless for five minutes late in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers beat the 25th-ranked Pioneers 80-72 in the South Atlantic Conference regular-season finale Wednesday evening at the Prior Convocation Center.

Kalee Johnson finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds and Caitlyn Ross had 25 points and 12 assists for the Cavaliers (14-4, 13-4 SAC), who clinched the number-four seed in the upcoming Pilot/Flying J SAC Championship with the victory. Nia Vanzant added 15 points and eight boards for the Cavaliers, who used just six players with four playing all 40 minutes.

Maddie Sutton recorded her 12th consecutive double-double and her Division II-leading 16th of the season as she finished with game highs of 29 points and 16 rebounds for the Pioneers (15-3, 15-3 SAC), who fell to the number-two seed in the SAC Championship bracket behind Carson-Newman (15-2) and saw their streak of nine straight road wins come to an end. Tusculum had not lost a road game since the final regular-season contest of last year, a 51-47 setback at Wingate on Feb. 29, 2020.

Tusculum, which entered the game leading the conference in scoring defense (56.2 ppg), field-goal defense (33.8 percent) and three-point defense (27.5 percent), allowed season worsts in all three categories to UVA Wise, as the Cavaliers shot 48.3 percent (28-for-58) from the field and 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from three-point range. The Pioneers had not allowed an opponent to score 70 points in a game this season, and failed to lead in a game for the first time since a 73-60 loss to Newberry on Feb. 1, 2020.

Three-pointers by Johnson and Ross gave the Cavaliers a 6-0 lead after two minutes, and the lead would reach 12-0 on a layup by Ada Stanley with 3:41 left in the first quarter. Tusculum missed its first 12 shots before a layup by Marta Rodrigues with 3:27 left in the opening quarter got the Pioneers on the board. Another layup by Rodrigues, followed by six straight points from Sutton, helped the Pioneers cut the deficit to 18-10 in the final minutes of the period, but a Ross three-pointer would stretch the UVA Wise lead to 21-10 after one.

UVA Wise scored the first eight points of the second quarter to take a 29-10 lead on a Ross basket with 8:34 left in the first half. The Cavaliers held their largest lead at 42-22 with 3:30 to go in the half after a layup by Vanzant, but the Pioneers began to chip away as consecutive three-pointers from Kirsten Click and Rodrigues helped trim the margin to 45-30 with 57 seconds left, and Sutton canned a pair of foul shots with 13 seconds left to send the Pioneers to halftime trailing 45-32.

The Cavaliers shot 58.6 percent (17-for-29) from the field in the first half, led by Johnson who had 16 points and nine rebounds on 6-for-8 shooting and by Ross who had 14 points and seven assists. The Pioneers hit just 33.3 percent (12-for-36) and were paced by Sutton who had 14 points and seven rebounds while shooting 5-for-12 from the field in the half.

Back-to-back baskets by Brianna Dixon to start the third quarter got the Pioneers back within single digits of the Cavaliers, and a three-point play from Sutton cut the UVA Wise lead to 47-39 with 7:15 left in the third. However, the Cavaliers answered with a 10-2 run to go back up 57-41 on a layup by Vanzant with 2:40 left in the third. UVA Wise would hit just one field goal the rest of the quarter as the Pioneers crept back to within 60-48 heading into the final period.

Trailing 63-50 following a Johnson three-pointer, the Pioneers got back-to-back baskets from Sutton and Rodrigues to cut the lead to 63-54 with 8:15 left. Consecutive three-pointers from Click and Sutton pulled the Pioneers as close as they had been since the opening two minutes, as the Cavalier advantage was sliced to 69-64 with 5:28 left. However, the Pioneers would miss their next eight shots until a layup by Dixon with 31 seconds left ended a run of six straight from the Cavaliers. UVA Wise was 5-for-8 from the line in the final 30 seconds, and three-pointers from Sutton and Rodrigues in the closing moments cut the margin down to six before Ross hit a pair at the line with a second remaining.

Rodrigues finished with 13 points, four rebounds and five assists for the Pioneers while Click and Mya Belton had nine points apiece. Dixon finished with seven points before fouling out in the closing moments, and Jalia Arnwine was limited to five points. Tusculum went 8-for-26 (30.8 percent) from three-point range for the game and shot 36.5 percent (27-for-74) overall from the floor.

Tusculum held a slim 42-41 edge in rebounding and had just 11 turnovers, while UVA Wise turned the ball over 14 times but outscored Tusculum 19-10 on fast breaks and 34-32 in the paint.

The Pioneers will host a SAC Championship quarterfinal game on Monday, March 1 at Pioneer Arena beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tusculum will play the winner of Saturday's opening-round game between 10th-seeded Wingate and seventh-seeeded Newberry. Semifinal games will be played on Thursday, March 4 and the championship game will be Sunday, March 7, with all games hosted by the higher seeds.

- TU -