GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- If you alphabetize the list of NCAA member schools, from Abilene Christian to Youngstown State, the names Tusculum and Tuskegee will show up next to each other. On Friday night, for the first time, those two will stand next to each other on the basketball floor as they meet in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Southeast Regional at Holt Fieldhouse on the campus of Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee. Game time is 8:45 p.m.

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Tusculum (18-3), the fourth seed in the six-team regional, earned its second straight automatic bid to the tournament after defeating Lincoln Memorial 59-47 in the South Atlantic Conference finals on Sunday, while Tuskegee (12-1) was awarded an at-large bid as the number five seed in the field. Due to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference not playing a full league schedule, the NCAA swapped the SIAC from the South to the Southeast Region and moved the Peach Belt Conference to the South for this season only, in an attempt to even up the number of schools competing in basketball in those regions.

Tusculum has played just one game in its history against a member of the SIAC, an 82-49 win over Benedict on Dec. 4, 2006 at Pioneer Arena. SIAC members are 18-53 all-time in the NCAA Division II Tournament, with most of the success coming from Fort Valley State which won seven games across 19 tournament appearances from 1982 through 2012.

Tuskegee is making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2013, when the Tigers lost 78-69 to Alabama Huntsville in the South Region quarterfinals at Nova Southeastern. Tuskegee's last tournament win was an 83-68 victory over Central Florida in the opening round in 1983. One year earlier, the Golden Tigers went all the way to the finals of the first NCAA Division II Tournament, beating Clark Atlanta, Springfield and Oakland before falling 93-74 to Cal Poly Pomona in the championship.

Tusculum is playing its first NCAA Tournament game since a 51-26 loss to Clayton State in the Southeast Region quarterfinals at USC Aiken in 2012. The Pioneers' last NCAA win was their 70-63 victory at Lander in the region finals in 2010 that secured Tusculum's first Elite Eight appearance. The Pioneers would have played Belmont Abbey in last year's NCAA opener at Lander, but the game and the tournament were canceled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Forward Maddie Sutton was named SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player after averaging 23.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the conference tournament, including game highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds in the finals against Lincoln Memorial. Sutton has scored 20 or more points in five straight games and in six of the last eight games, after having never reached the 20-point mark in the first 93 games of her career. Over that eight-game span, the graduate student from Walland, Tennessee is averaging 23.9 points, 13.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 82.9 percent from the foul line.

The first-team All-SAC selection leads Division II with 19 double-doubles this season, including 15 in a row, and ranks second in the nation with 15.0 rebounds per game. Sutton, who has sat out a total of 1 minute, 48 seconds over the last six games, has 15 or more rebounds in 12 of the Pioneers' 21 games and is third in Division II in defensive rebounds per game (10.2) and fifth in offensive boards per game (4.8). She also ranks in the top five nationally in both free throws made (113) and attempted (151) and with 314 total rebounds is seven shy of taking over the lead in Division II.

Senior guard Jalia Arnwine averaged 14.3 points during the SAC Tournament, earning All-Tournament honors along with junior guard Marta Rodrigues. Arnwine is second on the Pioneers in scoring at 13.0 points per game and ranks fourth in the conference with 47 three-pointers. Arnwine has hit at least one three-pointer in eight straight games and 17 of the Pioneers' 21 games, and the Knoxville, Tennessee native is averaging 14.9 points in Tusculum's 18 wins and 2.0 points in its three losses.

Rodrigues has played every second in each of the last six games, and has done so in 12 of the Pioneers' 21 games this season. Her average of 38.97 minutes per game is third in Division II, and she ranks 12th in assists per game (5.7) and 14th in assist-to-turnover ratio with a SAC-best 2.4-to-1 ratio. In her last two games of the SAC Tournament, the Lisbon, Portugal product had eight assists against just three turnovers in 80 minutes. Rodrigues averages 7.1 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per contest and shoots 33.8 percent from three-point range (23-for-68).

Senior guard Brianna Dixon won her fourth conference tournament championship in four years of college, earning back-to-back titles with the Pioneers after winning TCCAA tournament crowns at Walters State in 2018 and 2019. Dixon averaged 7.3 points and 7.3 rebounds during the SAC Tournament, including 11 points and nine rebounds in the championship game against Lincoln Memorial. The Decatur, Georgia native averages 10.3 points per game and shoots 45.6 percent from the field, while ranking second on the team with 5.5 rebounds per contest.

Junior guard Mya Belton hit three three-pointers and finished with nine points in 30 minutes against Lincoln Memorial. It was the fifth time this season that the Blythewood, South Carolina native hit at least three three-pointers in a game. Belton has scored double figures five times this season, with four of those games coming on the road including a 25-point performance at Mars Hill on Feb. 10, and averages 7.5 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game in 18.8 minutes per contest.

Off the bench, sophomore guard Kirsten Click played 20 minutes against Lincoln Memorial in the conference championship game and grabbed a career-high four rebounds. Click has hit three or more three-pointers in a game five times this season, and has played 15 or more minutes eight times. The Amelia, Ohio native averages 4.5 points per game and shoots 44.9 percent from three-point range to rank third in the conference.

Senior guard Aliyah Miller played a total of 20 minutes in three SAC Championship tournament games, and averages 8.6 points per game for the season. Miller leads the conference in three-point shooting at 45.3 percent (24-for-53) and would lead the SAC in free-throw shooting (91.7 percent, 22-for-24) if she had enough attempts to qualify.

Tusculum leads the SAC in scoring defense (56.1 ppg, 14th in Division II), field-goal defense (34.2 percent, 10th) and three-point defense (28.4 percent, 39th). The Pioneers also lead the SAC in scoring margin (+14.4 points per game, 16th in Division II) and three-point percentage (36.9 percent, 11th) and are second in three-pointers per game (8.9, 17th).

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN TIGERS
Tuskegee did not play its season opener until January 23, and began the season with four straight wins over Miles, by margins of 13, 2, 13 and 22. The Golden Tigers then swept two at Allen Feb. 6 and 7 by scores of 70-38 and 92-45, then defeated Albany State 92-64 on Feb. 9 to improve to 7-0. Wins over Spring Hill on Feb. 13-14 by scores of 86-64 and 93-65 left the Golden Tigers at 9-0, heading into a stretch of four games in five days against nationally-ranked Benedict. Tuskegee lost the first game 67-58 on the road on Feb. 17, but bounced back with three straight wins by 8, 2 and 10 points. Scheduled games at Fort Valley State on Feb. 24 and at Spring Hill on Feb. 28 were canceled, leaving the Golden Tigers with a 12-1 record and idle in 19 days heading into the tournament.

The Golden Tigers' leading scorer is 6-1 junior forward Ashiala Jackson, who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding at 17.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, including seven double-doubles. Junior guard JuToreyia Willis is fourth in Division II with 3.42 steals per game and leads the Golden Tigers in blocked shots at 1.33 per contest, while averaging 10.4 points per contest.

Also averaging double figures are senior guard India Blakely (12.7 ppg) and senior forward Lena Yoonis (10.4 ppg), while senior guard Tamia Willingham-King has hit a team-best 20 three-pointers. The Tigers shoot 71.3 percent from the foul line as a team, led by Blakely at 83.1 percent and Jackson at 81.3 percent.

Tuskegee is fourth in Division II in field-goal defense at 32.2 percent and 13th in scoring margin at +16.8 points per game. The Golden Tigers force 19.1 turnovers per game (38th in Division II) and also rank 27th nationally in field-goal percentage at 44.6 percent while averaging 75.5 points per game (31st in DII).

WHAT'S AT STAKE
The winner of Friday's game between Tusculum and Tuskegee will face top-seeded Belmont Abbey (22-2) in the semifinals Saturday night at 8:45 p.m. The region championship game will be played Monday at 6 p.m. for the right to advance to the Elite Eight in Columbus, Ohio. The other half of the bracket has third-seeded Carson-Newman (15-3) hosting sixth-seeded Catawba (10-3) on Friday at 6 p.m., with the winner taking on second-seeded Barton (12-2) on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the other semifinal.

FOLLOW THE GAME
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 WGRV Radio at 99.5 FM and 1340 AM, hear live audio through Comcast Channel 18 in Greene County, or online by using the TuneIn app and searching for WGRV. Live video and live stats links for all games are available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.