The Tusculum College women's basketball team will make its fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament, earning the seventh seed in the Southeast Regional hosted by the University of South Carolina at Aiken.

The Pioneers (17-10) will face second seed and defending NCAA Division II champion Clayton State University Friday at 3 p.m. in quarterfinal action at the USC Aiken Convocation Center. Tickets are $8 for general admission and $6 for students.

Tusculum and Clayton State will be meeting for the second time this season, the third time in the NCAA Division II Tournament and the seventh time overall. On Nov. 25, the Pioneers upset the then number-one ranked Lakers 63-51 at the X-Trem Thanksgiving Classic at North Georgia.

In their most-recent NCAA Tournament meeting in 2010, the Pioneers defeated the Lakers 69-63 in the opening round on their way to the program's first-ever region championship and Elite Eight appearance. Coincidentally, Tusculum was the seventh seed and Clayton State the second seed in the region that year.

All-time, Clayton State leads the series with Tusculum by a 4-2 margin, with the teams splitting their two NCAA tournament matchups. Friday's matchup will mark the seventh different venue that the teams have squared off.

Tusculum received an at-large bid after finishing in third place in the South Atlantic Conference with an 11-7 record. The Pioneers went 4-2 against the other seven teams in the regional field, bolstering their claim to one of the five at-large bids in the region.

Overall, the Pioneers are 4-4 in the NCAA Division II Tournament, losing 69-66 to USC Aiken in the opening round of last year's Southeast Regional at Clayton State.

The Pioneers are led by junior guard Kendal Baxter (Sevierville, Tenn.), a second-team All-SAC selection who leads the team in scoring at 14.1 points per game. Baxter leads the SAC and ranks in the top 15 in Division II with 76 three-pointers in 27 games (2.81 per game) and also leads the conference in free-throw percentage at 91.5 percent (75-for-82), ranking her among the top five in the nation.

Senior forward Staci Hicks (Loveland, Ohio) was also a second-team All-SAC pick after averaging 11.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for the Pioneers. She leads the SAC in field-goal percentage at 60.0 percent (123-for-205) and led NCAA Division II earlier in the season.

Clayton State enters the tournament with a 28-3 record and a 16-1 mark in the Peach Belt Conference. The Lakers lost to USC Aiken 52-47 in the PBC championship game on Sunday and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Lakers are led by senior forward Tanisha Woodard, who was named first-team All-PBC and conference Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. She is the Peach Belt Conference career leader in steals (408) and is the program's second all-time leading scorer.

The winner of the Tusculum/Clayton State game will advance to the regional semifinals at 5 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of the 1 p.m. game between No. 3 seed Wingate and No. 6 seed Barton. In other quarterfinal contests on Friday, regional host and top seed USC Aiken will face No. 8 seed Catawba at 6 p.m. and No. 4 seed Lander will take on No. 5 seed Limestone at 8 p.m.. The regional final will be played Monday night at 7 p.m.

Please visit the Tusculum College Athletic web site, www.tusculumpioneers.com for more information. For Southeast Regional information, visit the official regional web site here.

No. 3 Wingate vs. No. 6 Barton, 1 p.m.
No. 2 Clayton State vs. No. 7 Tusculum, 3 p.m.
No. 1 USC Aiken vs. No. 8 Catawba, 6 p.m.
No. 4 Lander vs. No. 5 Limestone, 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 10 (Regional Semifinals)
Wingate/Barton winner vs. Clayton State/Tusculum winner, 5 p.m.
USC Aiken/Catawba winner vs. Lander/Limestone winner, 7 p.m.

Monday, March 12 (Regional Final)
Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.