GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University has earned the number-two seed for the 2021 Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship tournament, which begins Saturday with opening-round action.
The Pioneers (15-3, 15-3 SAC) are one of three teams to receive a first-round bye in this year's tournament, which was expanded from the traditional eight qualifiers to allow all 13 SAC member schools to participate. The seedings for the basketball championship are based on the final regular season winning percentage for all teams, regardless of the total number of SAC games played.
Tusculum will play its SAC tournament opener on Monday, March 1 at 5:30 p.m. at Pioneer Arena against the winner of Saturday's opening-round game between 7th-seeded Newberry (8-9) and 10th-seeded Wingate (9-8). Should the Pioneers prevail on Monday, they would host a semifinal game on Thursday, March 4. The SAC Championship game will be played Sunday, March 7 and hosted by the better-seeded team among the finalists. Wingate was dropped to the 10th seed after having to nullify seven games due to a violation of NCAA and SAC bylaws.
Tusculum is the defending SAC tournament champion, having beaten Wingate (82-40), Carson-Newman (81-73) and Anderson (61-49) to claim its first SAC Championship tournament title since 2011 and third overall. The Pioneers are attempting to become the first school to repeat as tournament champions since Wingate in 2016 and 2017. Wingate is also the last number-two seed to win the title, in 2014. Tusculum has never been a number-two seed in the SAC tournament prior to this season.
Carson-Newman, which went 15-2 in conference play during the season, earned the number-one seed in the tournament field for the first time since 2018. Catawba (9-2) is the number-three seed and will join the Eagles and Pioneers in having a bye for the opening round. UVA Wise (13-4) captured the fourth seed and will host 13th-seeded Queens (1-17) in one of five opening-round games on Saturday. The other opening-round matchups include fifth-seeded Anderson (11-9) hosting 12th-seeded Mars Hill (2-17), sixth-seeded Limestone (7-6) at home against 11th-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne (6-12) and eighth-seeded Lincoln Memorial (7-10) facing visiting ninth-seeded Coker (7-11).
Tusculum defeated both Wingate and Newberry during early-season play, beating the Bulldogs 63-52 in the season opener on Nov. 21 and defeating the Wolves on the road 72-50 on Dec. 5. Tusculum and Wingate have met in the SAC quarterfinals each of the last two seasons, while the Pioneers have not played Newberry in the conference tournament since a 60-54 Wolves victory in the 2012 quarterfinals.
The tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament. The six-team Southeast Regional will begin on Friday, March 12 at Carson-Newman and continue through the regional final on Monday, March 15.
2021 Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference
Women's Basketball Championship
Saturday, February 27 - Opening round
Game 1: #9 Coker at #8 Lincoln Memorial, 2 p.m.
Game 2: #10 Wingate vs. #7 Newberry, 2 p.m.
Game 3: #11 Lenoir-Rhyne vs. #6 Limestone, 2 p.m.
Game 4: #12 Mars Hill at #5 Anderson, 2 p.m.
Game 5: #13 Queens at #4 UVA Wise, 2 p.m.
Monday, March 1 - Quarterfinals
Game 6: winner game 1 at #1 Carson-Newman, 5:30 p.m.
Game 7: winner game 2 at #2 Tusculum, 5:30 p.m.
Game 8: winner game 3 at #3 Catawba, 7 p.m.
Game 9: winner game 4 vs. winner game 5, 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 4 - Semifinals
Game 10: winner game 6 vs. winner game 9, TBA
Game 11: winner game 7 vs. winner game 8, TBA
Sunday, March 7 - Championship
Game 12: winner game 10 vs. winner game 11, TBA
Higher seed will host all games
