WINGATE, N.C. --- Hannah Clark hit a go-ahead jumper with 1:43 left to lift Wingate University to a 57-53 victory over upset-minded Tusculum University in the quarterfinals of the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship Tournament Wednesday evening at Cuddy Arena.
Bryanna Troutman scored 18 of her game-high 24 points in the first quarter for the top-seeded Bulldogs (24-4), who survived two shots for the lead in the final seconds by the eighth-seeded Pioneers to advance to Saturday's semifinals against Anderson University at Timmons Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. Haleigh Brandon added 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Wingate, which led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter before Tusculum roared back to take the lead in the fourth.
Brianna Dixon led the Pioneers (12-17) with 16 points and Lexi Patty added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Pioneers, who were bidding for a third consecutive SAC Tournament championship. Tusculum had a fourth-quarter lead in all three meetings with Wingate this season, but lost all three by a total of 14 points.
Mya Belton also reached double figures for the Pioneers with 11 points, and Alyssa Walker had two points and nine rebounds off the bench. Tusculum shot 20-for-67 (29.9 percent) from the field and 10-for-34 from three-point range (29.4 percent), but the Pioneers were just 3-for-4 at the foul line and did not attempt a free throw in the second half.
Troutman shot 9-for-18 from the field and 6-for-7 at the line for the Bulldogs, while adding eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Clark finished with 11 points for Wingate, which shot 39.6 percent (19-for-48) from the field and 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) at the foul line. Wingate outrebounded Tusculum 43-37, but the Pioneers had 19 offensive rebounds which they were able to turn into just nine points.
Wingate led 38-24 with 6:06 left in the third quarter, but the Pioneers went on a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to 40-37 on a three-pointer from Dixon with 1:21 left in the period. Tusculum would take its first lead at 45-44 on a three-pointer from Belton with 7:50 left, then regained the lead at 50-49 on a three-pointer from Jalia Arnwine with 3:58 to go. A three-pointer from Brandon put Wingate ahead 52-50 with 3:38 left, but Patty answered from deep for a 53-52 Tusculum lead with 3:09 remaining.
After misses from the Bulldogs and Pioneers left Wingate with the ball with 2:14 left, Clark connected on a tough shot in the lane with 1:43 left to put Wingate ahead 54-53. After a miss from the Pioneers, the Bulldogs were called for an offensive foul with 1:00 left to give Tusculum the ball back. However, the Pioneers turned it back over on a charge with 46.7 seconds remaining. A backcourt violation against the Bulldogs gave possession back to Tusculum with 18.3 remaining.
Following a Tusculum timeout with 14.4 left, the Pioneers had a three-point attempt from Arnwine blocked out of bounds with 9.9 to go. A runner by Arnwine was off target with 6.7 to go, but Walker grabbed the rebound for the Pioneers and saw her putback go off the back of the rim with 4.2 remaining. Brandon grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 2.4 seconds left and a one-point lead, and made the first but missed the second only to grab her miss and be fouled again with 1.8 seconds to go and a 55-53 lead. Brandon again made the first and missed the second, and was fouled yet again on the rebound with 0.8 left. Brandon would sink one of two to give Wingate the four-point victory.
Tusculum opened the game 0-for-9 from the field before scoring their first points on a jumper by Patty with 5:37 left in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Troutman would score 13 of the first 15 points for Wingate as the Bulldogs went ahead 16-7 with 1:50 left in the period. A bucket by Patty with 11 seconds left in the quarter would cut a 12-point Wingate lead to 21-11 after one, as Tusculum shot 4-for-18 from the field in the first quarter and 1-for-11 from three-point range.
The Pioneers trailed 23-11 early in the second quarter, but back-to-back three-pointers from Dixon and Belton cut the Bulldogs' lead to 23-17 with 8:07 left in the half. Wingate went up 29-21 on a free throw by Ilene Hurley with 3:34 left in the half, and the teams would go scoreless for more than two minutes until Dixon hit a foul shot with 1:12 left. Clark and Patty hit layups for their respective teams in the final minute as Wingate carried a 31-24 lead to intermission.
Patty led the Pioneers with 10 points on 5-for-11 shooting in the first half, along with four rebounds, while Belton had eight points and five boards. Tusculum shot 27.3 percent (9-for-33) from the field in the opening half and was 3-for-17 from three-point range. Troutman led all players with 18 points in the first half for Wingate, with Clark adding seven. Wingate shot 45.8 percent (11-for-24) from the field and went 8-for-11 from the foul line as a team.
Wingate started the third quarter with seven straight points, going ahead 38-24 on a three-pointer from Peyton Davis with 6:06 remaining in the period. To that point, Tusculum was 0-for-5 from the field to start the second half, but a three from Dixon with 5:46 left jumpstarted the Pioneer comeback effort.
Arnwine sank three three-pointers in seven attempts and finished with nine points and five assists in the final game of her career. Arnwine ended her Tusculum career with 1,183 points to rank 15th on the Pioneer all-time scoring list, and third with 217 career three-pointers. Sophie Henry was scoreless in 40 minutes for the Pioneers but had a rebound, two assists and two steals.
The Pioneers finished the game with 14 turnovers, which Wingate converted into 10 points, while the Bulldogs had 18 turnovers turned into 15 points for the Pioneers. Wingate outscored Tusculum 26-14 in the paint and the Pioneers had an 8-2 edge in fast break scoring.
All four top seeds advanced in the SAC quarterfinals, as Anderson beat Limestone 67-50 and will play Wingate at noon on Saturday in the semifinals. In the other half of the bracket, second-seeded Carson-Newman defeated seventh-seeded UVA Wise 86-69 and will play third-seeded Catawba, which downed sixth-seeded Newberry 65-48 in quarterfinal action. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday at Timmons Arena.