GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- With a second consecutive 20-win season and a top-four position in the South Atlantic Conference secured, the Tusculum University women's basketball team will look to improve its chances of qualifying for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in eight years as the Pioneers wrap up the regular season this week.
The Pioneers (20-6, 15-5 SAC) earned a pair of key conference wins last week, rallying to defeat Carson-Newman 79-74 on Wednesday and beating Coker 75-66 on Saturday. Tusculum finished the regular season 10-3 at home and has reached the 20-win mark in consecutive seasons for the first time since doing so in four straight years from 2008-09 through 2011-12.
Tusculum will travel to face Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. before closing the regular season at Wingate on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Railsplitters and the Bulldogs are among four teams jockeying for positions six through nine in the conference standings as the final week of the season begins. Wingate and LMU are tied for sixth at 9-11 in the conference, with UVa-Wise and Lenoir-Rhyne tied for eighth and a game back at 8-12.
At the top of the standings, the four teams that broke away from the pack early in the season (Anderson, Catawba, Tusculum and Carson-Newman) have all clinched home games in the SAC Championship quarterfinal round on Wednesday, March 4. Tusculum is currently tied for third place with Carson-Newman at 15-5 in the league, but the Pioneers own the tiebreaker over the Eagles through its sweep of the season series.
Tusculum will clinch no worse than the third seed in the SAC Championship tournament with two wins this week, but could climb to second with a pair of victories and two losses by Catawba, which plays at Anderson on Wednesday and at Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday. Carson-Newman ends its regular season at UVa-Wise on Wednesday and home on Saturday against Newberry, which has already locked up the five seed in the tournament.
The Pioneers were seventh in the initial NCAA Division II Southeast Region rankings, released last Wednesday. The committee will release two more rankings on each of the next two Wednesdays before final selections are announced on Sunday, March 8. Eight teams will qualify for the Southeast Regional -- the conference champions from the SAC, Peach Belt Conference and Conference Carolinas, along with five at-large teams.
Of note, Tusculum is a perfect 8-0 on Wednesdays and is 13-0 in games played on weekdays, compared to 7-6 on Saturdays. The Pioneers are 12-0 in night games, 12-0 when outshooting the opposition and 12-1 when outrebounding its opponents.
RECAPPING THE WEEK
In front of a large, enthusiastic crowd on Pack the Arena Night, the Pioneers raced back from a 13-point second-half deficit for a 79-74 win over Carson-Newman on Wednesday. Jalia Arnwine hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 25.4 seconds left and was one of five players in double figures for the Pioneers in the win. Mia Long scored 19 points and added six steals and Maddie Sutton contributed 12 points and a career-high 17 rebounds in the win.
The comeback was the fourth from a double-digit deficit for the Pioneers this season, and was sparked by Aliyah Miller who had nine of her 11 points off the bench in the fourth quarter. Tusculum trailed by nine with 8:46 left but outscored the Eagles 31-21 in the final period.
On Saturday, it was Tusculum's turn to let a double-digit lead slip away as the Pioneers saw a 13-point first-quarter lead turn into a a 56-55 deficit with 8:23 left. From there, Tusculum held Coker without a point for nearly eight minutes as the Pioneers used a 12-0 run to put the game away down the stretch.
Long scored a game-high 20 points, including the 1,000th of her career on a free throw with 31.8 seconds remaining. She became the 19th player in school history and the third this season to reach the milestone, joining Kasey Johnson against Catawba on Nov. 30 and Sydney Wilson at Carson-Newman on Jan. 15. Sutton had her third straight double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Arnwine hit four three-pointers and contributed 17 points in the win.
LOOKING AHEAD
Lincoln Memorial (10-14, 9-11 SAC) was in the midst of what would be a four-game losing streak when the Railsplitters lost 73-59 at Tusculum on Jan. 22. February has been an improvement for LMU, with a 4-3 record despite playing five of their seven games on the road. The most recent was a 74-54 loss at Catawba on Saturday, as LMU shot 27.1 percent (13-for-48) from the field and trailed 23-5 after one quarter and 44-16 at halftime.
The Railsplitters have used 13 different players in the starting lineup this season, with freshman guard Lauren Flowers and sophomore guard Lexi Kiser the only two players to start at least two-thirds of LMU's games. Flowers is averaging a team-best 11.6 points per game but is shooting just 37.3 percent from the field. Leading rebounder Semajia Ogburn returned to the lineup last week after missing 11 games, and leads the team with 5.6 rebounds per contest.
Befitting their mid-pack status in the conference standings, the Railsplitters fall in the middle of the pack in most SAC statistical categories. LMU is eighth in scoring offense (61.5 ppg) and sixth in defense (64.1 ppg) while ranking 10th in field goal percentage (.378) and eighth in foul shooting (.685). The Railsplitters have scored more than 70 points in a game just four times this season, with a season high of 78 at Mars Hill last Wednesday.
The Railsplitters lead the all-time series with the Pioneers by a 44-31 margin, as Tusculum goes for its third straight win over LMU for the first time since winning three in a row from Feb. 3, 2010 through Feb. 2, 2011. Tusculum has lost five straight at Tex Turner Arena since a 61-57 win on Feb. 17, 2014, with two of the losses coming by a point in 2016-17 (66-65) and 2018-19 (76-75).
Wingate (15-12, 9-11 SAC) ended the 2019 portion of the schedule with five straight wins, but has yet to post back-to-back wins since the start of the new year. After beating Newberry 58-49 in overtime last Wednesday by holding the Wolves scoreless in the extra period, the Bulldogs lost 72-58 at UVa-Wise on Saturday.
Freshman guard Hannah Clark entered the week as the leading scorer for the Bulldogs at 11.3 points per game, ranking eighth in the SAC in three-pointers per game (1.8) and in three-point percentage (.386). Junior forward Teliyah Jeter averages 10.9 points per game and is fourth in the conference in rebounding at 10.3 per game. Jeter, who leads the SAC with 3.5 blocked shots per game, had five double-doubles in the last seven games at the start of the week.
Wingate has been reliant on defense throughout the season, ramking second in the SAC in points allowed per game (60.2), second in blocks per game (5.5) and in opponents field goal percentage (.357). On offense, the Bulldogs average just 60.3 points per game (10th in the SAC) and are next-to-last in free throw percentage (.618) and three-point attempts per game (11.6).
The Pioneers snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Bulldogs with a 77-57 win at Pioneer Arena on Jan. 18. Wingate still leads the all-time series 33-13, including an 18-5 edge at Cuddy Arena. Tusculum has swept Wingate in the regular season just twice, winning both meetings in 2009-10 and again in 2015-16.
LEADER BOARD
Long remains 10th in the SAC in scoring at 14.2 points per game, having reached double figures in eight of the last nine games including three 20-plus point games over that span. She is seventh in the conference in field goal percentage at 48.2 percent, and is the only player in the conference averaging more than three steals per game (3.5).
Sutton, who is the first Pioneer with three straight double-doubles since Catherine Hintz in 2010-11, is averaging 11.0 points and 10.5 rebounds over the last eight games, with five double-doubles in that span. Sutton is seventh in the SAC at 8.5 rebounds per game and tenth in free throw percentage at 76.3 percent (61-for-80).
Arnwine, who has made at least one three-pointer in 15 straight games, is tied for 13th in the SAC with 1.6 three-pointers per game and is 13th in three-point percentage at 35.7 percent. Kasey Johnson is second in the SAC in free-throw percentage at 87.3 percent (55-for-63) and is 11th in rebounding at 6.5 per game.
Tusculum continues to lead the SAC in fewest turnovers per game (15.0), and has been even with or forced more turnovers than the opposition in 13 straight games. The Pioneers are seventh in the SAC in foul shooting at 68.9 percent, but are at an even 80 percent (52-for-65) over the last three games. The Pioneers also lead in steals per game (12.4) and are second in three-pointers made per game (8.0) and free throws made per game (14.4), while ranking second in turnovers forced per game at 22.7.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
Brian Stayton describes all the action of Tusculum women's basketball on the Pioneer Sports Network. Fans can listen to the games locally on WSMG Radio at 95.5 FM and 1450 AM, and on-line at jewel955.com. The Pioneer Pre-Game show begins 15 minutes before tip-off, at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday prior to the game at Lincoln Memorial, and at 1:45 p.m. Saturday before the matchup with Wingate. Live video and live stats links are also available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.
