GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University advanced to the finals of the Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship with a 60-53 victory over Catawba College in semifinal action Thursday night at Pioneer Arena.
Maddie Sutton recorded her 14th consecutive double-double with game highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds and the Pioneer defense held the Indians to 30.9 percent shooting for the game as second-seeded Tusculum (17-3) will host Lincoln Memorial on Sunday at 2 p.m. looking to win its second straight tournament championship. The Railsplitters beat Anderson 64-62 to become the first eight seed to advance to the SAC tournament finals.
Jalia Arnwine added 13 points and Marta Rodrigues contributed 10 points and four assists for the Pioneers, who shot 9-for-15 (60 percent) from three-point range and 43.8 percent (21-for-48) overall from the field in the victory. Tusculum was outrebounded 39-31 by Catawba, but the Pioneers outscored the Indians 24-7 on fast breaks and took the lead for good early in the second quarter.
Janiya Downs led the third-seeded Indians (10-3) with 18 points off the bench while Shemya Stanback had 11 points and five rebounds and Lyrik Thorne added 10. Catawba shot 17-for-55 from the field for the game and went 2-for-14 during the pivotal second quarter when the Pioneers outscored the Indians 16-9 to take an eight-point halftime lead.
Sutton shot 8-for-15 from the field, connected on a pair of three-pointers and dished out a game-high five assists to become the first Pioneer to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists in a game since Mia Long against Newberry on Jan. 21, 2019, and the first to lead in all three categories along with blocked shots since Kristen New against Mars Hill on Feb. 20, 2002. Sutton's double-double was her Division II-leading 18th of the season while she broke the 20-point mark for the fourth straight game and the fifth time in seven games after having never done so in the first 93 games of her Tusculum career.
Catawba opened the scoring on a basket by Stanback just over 90 seconds into the first quarter, but a three-pointer from Arnwine put Tusculum ahead 3-2. The teams swapped the lead seven times in the opening period, as neither team led by more than two points. Tusculum went 4-for-6 from three-point range in the first quarter, as Arnwine hit two and Sutton and Rodrigues added one each to help the Pioneers to a 13-12 lead after one.
A three-pointer from Downs put the Indians back on top 15-13 with 9:05 left in the first half, but that would be Catawba's last lead as the Pioneers ran off seven in a row to go up 20-15 on a Sutton basket with 6:58 to go in the half. Stanback would cut the deficit to 20-17 on a layup on the next trip for the Indians, but Catawba would go the final 6:36 of the half without a field goal as a 9-2 Tusculum run was capped by a free throw from Brianna Dixon for a 29-19 Pioneer lead.
Tusculum led 29-21 at halftime behind nine points and seven rebounds from Sutton and eight points from Rodrigues. Arnwine added six points and Dixon had three points and six boards for the Pioneers, who shot 34.9 percent (9-for-26) from the field but went 7-for-12 from three-point range in the half. Downs had seven points in 15 minutes off the Catawba bench, with six points apiece for Thorne and Stanback as the Indians hit just 20.7 percent (6-for-29) as a team.
Baskets by Sutton and Dixon gave the Pioneers their largest lead at 35-23 with 6:51 left in the third quarter, but the Indians regrouped to score nine straight points, seven from Downs, to cut the Tusculum lead to 35-32 with 4:07 left in the third quarter. However, Arnwine hit a three-pointer and Sutton connected on a layup to restore the Pioneer lead at 40-32 with 2:41 left in the quarter. A layup by Rodrigues beat the third-quarter buzzer and gave Tusculum a 44-36 lead heading to the fourth.
Two free throws from Catawba's Sara McIntosh brought the Indians back within 44-38 with 9:21 to go, but a three-pointer from Mya Belton and a jumper by Aliyah Miller stretched Tusculum's lead back to double digits at 49-38 with 8:17 left. Tusculum would lead by as many as 12 points in the final three minutes, and Catawba could get no closer than six in the final seconds.
Dixon finished with five points, six rebounds and four assists while playing all 40 minutes for the Pioneers, with Belton adding eight rebounds to go along with five points in 29 minutes. For Catawba, McIntosh tallied eight points in 21 minutes off the bench, while Taisha DeShazo had four points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Tusculum has won its last five games against Lincoln Memorial (11-10), including a sweep of the season series. The Pioneers beat the Railsplitters 57-53 on the road on Nov. 28 and rallied for a 71-62 home win on Feb. 17. The Pioneers will be seeking their fourth SAC Championship title, having won titles in 2010, 2011 and 2020. Tusculum is 3-3 all-time in the SAC Championship final, while Lincoln Memorial lost 81-61 to Wingate in its only finals appearance in 2017.
