NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University forward Maddie Sutton has been honored as the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the week ending March 7, the TSWA announced Wednesday.

Sutton received the TSWA award for the third time in the last four weeks after leading the Pioneers to their second consecutive Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship. The graduate student from Walland, Tennessee was named Most Valuable Player after averaging 23.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists in three games as the Pioneers defeated Newberry, Catawba and Lincoln Memorial to claim their second straight SAC title and fourth overall.

Sutton finished with 20 points and 18 rebounds and set a tournament single-game record by going 12-for-12 from the foul line in a 59-43 quarterfinal win over Newberry last Monday. Tusculum defeated Catawba 60-53 in the semifinals as Sutton finished with a game-high 22 points along with 10 rebounds and five assists. In the Pioneers' 59-47 championship game win over Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, Sutton tallied a game-high 27 points and added 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

A first-team All-SAC selection, Sutton leads Division II in double-doubles with 19, including 15 in a row, and ranks second in the nation in rebounding at 15.0 per game. Sutton is fourth in the SAC in scoring at 17.3 points per game and 10th in assists per game at 3.4 per contest. She has scored 20 or more points in five straight games, and is averaging 23.9 points and 13.9 rebounds per game over the Pioneers' last eight games.

Tusculum (18-3) is the fourth seed in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region and will play fifth-seeded Tuskegee (12-1) in an opening-round game Friday at 8:45 p.m. at Holt Fieldhouse on the campus of Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee. The region semifinals will be played Saturday with the championship game on Monday.