GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tournament Most Valuable Player Maddie Sutton scored 11 of her game-high 27 points in the final six minutes as Tusculum University defended its Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship with a 59-47 victory over Lincoln Memorial University Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
The second-seeded Pioneers (18-3) rallied from a nine-point first-half deficit, then squandered a 10-point third-quarter lead before outscoring the eighth-seeded Railsplitters (11-11) by a 20-6 margin down the stretch to win their second straight SAC Championship and fourth overall. Tusculum also clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament, which opens Friday with regional play in Jefferson City, Tennessee.
Sutton shot 9-for-17 from the field and 8-for-9 from the foul line and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to register her NCAA Division II-leading 19th double-double of the season and her 17th in a row. In three SAC Tournament games, Sutton averaged 23.0 points and 13.0 rebounds per game while shooting 80 percent (24-for-30) at the foul line.
Jordan Maney scored 17 points on 7-for-16 shooting to lead the Railsplitters, who were bidding to become the lowest seed to win the SAC Tournament title, but was held to two points in the second half. Mikayla Kuehne added 13 points and six rebounds off the bench before fouling out in the final minute as LMU shot 33.3 percent (6-for-18) in the second half and 39.5 percent (17-for-43) for the game.
Tusculum trailed 26-17 midway through the second quarter, then outscored the Railsplitters 22-3 over the next 13 minutes to take a 39-29 lead late in the third quarter. LMU responded with an 11-0 run to go ahead 40-39 on a basket by Kuehne with 6:35 left, but Tusculum ran off 12 in a row including three-pointers from Mya Belton and Jalia Arnwine on the same possession to go up 51-40 with 3:41 left. The Pioneers closed out the game going 5-for-6 from the foul line in the final 90 seconds.
Brianna Dixon narrowly missed a double-double for the Pioneers as she had 11 points and a season high-tying nine rebounds. Belton hit three three-pointers and finished with nine points, Arnwine had eight points and Marta Rodrigues finished with four points to go along with five rebounds and four assists against just one turnover, while playing all 40 minutes for the sixth straight game.
Both teams started the game tentative, as each missed their first four shots from the field. Arnwine got Tusculum on the board with a layup nearly two minutes into the contest, and Maney scored LMU's first basket nearly 3 1/2 minutes into the opening quarter. Tusculum led 6-3 following a Dixon layup with 5:45 to go in the quarter, but a layup from Maney and a three-pointer from Lindsay Proffitt gave Lincoln Memorial an 8-6 advantage. Sutton tied the game at 10-10 on a putback with 1:36 to go in the period, and both teams finished the quarter with a miss and a turnover.
After shooting 4-for-12 from the field in the first quarter, the Railsplitters caught fire in the second stanza as they went 7-for-13 from the floor including a pair of three-pointers. After a Belton three tied the game at 15-15, LMU ran off eight straight including two buckets from Maney and a three-pointer from Lauren Flowers which gave the Railsplitters a 23-15 lead with 6:15 to go in the half.
LMU took its largest lead at 26-17 on a three-point play from Proffitt with 5:08 left, and still held a 28-22 lead after a Flowers putback with 3:25 remaining in the half. However, the Railsplitters would miss their final four shots of the half as a basket from Dixon was bookended by free throws from Sutton and Rodrigues as Tusculum trailed just 28-26 at the break.
Tusculum shot just 1-for-9 from three-point range in the first half and 37.9 percent (11-for-29) overall, led by Dixon with 10 points and five rebounds and Sutton with seven points and five boards. Lincoln Memorial was paced by 15 from Maney on 6-for-10 from the field and six by Proffitt, along with five from Flowers, as the Railsplitters shot 44 percent (11-for-25) from the field and 3-for-14 from three-point range.
The Pioneers, who scored the final four points of the second quarter, ran off the first four points of the third quarter to go ahead 30-28 on a Sutton layup with 7:23 left in the period. Lincoln Memorial, which turned the ball over on four straight possessions at one point in the quarter, went scoreless until a foul shot from Maggie Jachimczuk with 4:56 to go in the period. Tusculum then ran off nine points in a row to make it a 17-1 run which Sutton capped with a three-point play for a 39-29 lead with 1:44 remaining in the quarter. A three-pointer by Kuehne broke the LMU drought and cut the Pioneer advantage to 39-32 after three quarters.
Lincoln Memorial continued its run in the fourth quarter as consecutive three-pointers from Lexi Kiser and Kuehne brought the Railsplitters within 39-38 with 7:46 left. Kuehne then beat the shot clock with an off-balance jumper to give LMU its final lead of the afternoon at 40-39 and cap an 11-0 run with 6:35 remaining.
Sutton then went to work, giving the Pioneers the lead for good at 41-40 on a layup with 5:37 to go. Sutton then hit two free throws for a 43-40 lead with 5:02 to play, and on the Pioneers' next possession Belton hit a three and was fouled after the shot to give Tusculum a 46-40 advantage with 4:24 left. Arnwine then buried a three from the wing with 4:10 to go for a 49-40 lead, and Sutton converted a layup off a steal for a 51-40 Tusculum advantage with 3:41 to play. Lincoln Memorial crept within six on a three-pointer from Kuehne with 1:14 to go, but Rodrigues and Sutton each hit a pair of foul shots and Sutton drilled a three in the closing seconds to seal the win.
Belton was 3-for-7 from the field and finished with nine points and a season-high three assists while matching her career high of 30 minutes. Arnwine shot 3-for-10 from the floor while Dixon hit 5-for-9 from the field and dished out three assists for the Pioneers, who turned the ball over just 11 times and allowed just five points off those miscues.
Kuehne shot 5-for-10 from the field and went 3-for-5 from three-point range for the Railsplitters, who had 16 turnovers which led to 17 points for the Pioneers. Tusculum outrebounded Lincoln Memorial 36-29 and gave up just two offensive rebounds to the Railsplitters.
Joining Sutton on the All-Tournament team were Arnwine and Rodrigues from Tusculum, Maney and Proffitt from Lincoln Memorial, Janiya Downs from Catawba and Britney Bailey from Anderson.
Tusculum qualifies for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the seventh time, and will participate in the Southeast Regional hosted by Carson-Newman University. The tournament selections will be announced Sunday night at 10 p.m. at ncaa.com, with first-round action beginning Friday, March 12.
