GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's basketball team reaches the midway point of its 2020-21 season this week, with two of its biggest challenges in the South Atlantic Conference looming on the schedule.

Off to the best start in program history at 9-0, the Pioneers will host fellow unbeaten Carson-Newman on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Pioneer Arena. After an off day on Saturday, the Pioneers will head to Catawba to face the unbeaten Indians on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in a game rescheduled from Jan. 9.

Tusculum earned a pair of home victories last week, defeating Mars Hill 69-46 on Wednesday and routing Coker 92-51 on Saturday. The wins extended the Pioneers' home-court winning streak to 10 in a row dating to last season, and Tusculum's overall winning streak to 12 in a row for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Pioneers have not won 13 straight since a run of 18 consecutive victories during the 1995-96 campaign, and Tusculum has not won 10 games in a row in a single season since doing so in 2010-11.

Tusculum was ranked 10th in the D2SIDA Division II national poll last week, and began this week holding on to the second spot in the D2SIDA Southeast Region rankings. Carson-Newman was ranked fourth in this week's D2SIDA region poll, with Catawba tied for fifth.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Tusculum's keys to success have been simple -- defense, three-point shooting and rebounding. The Pioneers lead the SAC in scoring defense (52.3 ppg, 7th in DII), field-goal percentage defense (31.1 percent, 6th in DII) and three-point defense (23.7 percent, 14th in DII), and also lead in three-pointers made per game (9.1). The Pioneers are also atop the conference in rebound margin (+7.8 per game) and total rebounds per game (45.1).

Senior center Maddie Sutton recorded her NCAA Division II-leading seventh double-double of the season against Coker with 15 points and 16 rebounds. Sutton ranks second in the SAC and fourth in DII in rebounding at 14.6 per contest, and has had 15 or more rebounds in five of the last six games. The Walland, Tennessee native has pulled double figures in rebounds in all nine games, and is working on a streak of three straight double-doubles (13.0 ppg, 16.7 rpg).

Senior guard Jalia Arnwine is up to fourth in the conference in scoring (15.1 ppg) and ranks fourth in the league with 22 made three-pointers. Arnwine has reached double figures in scoring in five straight games and eight out of nine this season, including a career-best 25 in last Wednesday's win over Mars Hill.

Junior guard Mya Belton returned to action after missing the Mars Hill game and responded with a season-high 18 points in her first career start. The scoring outburst was the third double-figure output in the last four games for Belton, who raised her average to 6.9 points per game.

Junior forward Deidre Cheremond enjoyed her strongest game of the season against Coker. She entered the game with 5:53 left in the third quarter and proceeded to score 11 points in a six-minute span en route to a season-best 15 points and five rebounds in 14 minutes.

Junior guard Marta Rodrigues continued her consistent play at the point with seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists against Coker. Rodrigues leads the conference and ranks third in Division II with 6.7 assists per game and has had at least a 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio in seven of the Pioneers' nine games.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
COVID issues within the Carson-Newman program has put the Eagles' season on hold twice. The Eagles did not play their season opener until Dec. 2 against Newberry, then sat out for five weeks from Dec. 12 until returning to play on Saturday with a 91-73 win over Lenoir-Rhyne.

Despite the stops and starts, Carson-Newman is off to a 5-0 start and leads the SAC in field-goal percentage (47.9 percent) and field goals per game (31.2). The Eagles rank second in the conference in scoring offense (80.8 ppg), but struggle at the line at a SAC-worst 61.5 percent from the stripe.

On Monday, the Eagles beat Mars Hill 87-68 on the road behind a season-high 33 points from Lindsey Taylor. Braelyn Wykle added 17 points and Addison Byrd pulled a season-high 13 rebounds. Carson-Newman led 57-33 at halftime and shot 46.8 percent (36-for-77) from the field in the victory.

Wykle, last year's SAC Freshman of the Year, leads the conference in scoring at 22.8 points per game. She has scored in double figures in all five games, with four 20-point performances including a season-high 29 against Anderson on Dec. 9. Four players average double figures for the Eagles, including Taylor (13.8 ppg), Byrd (12.6 ppg) and Skylar Boshears (12.0 ppg), who had 26 against Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday.

Carson-Newman leads the series 29-16 over Tusculum since the Pioneers joined the SAC for the 1998-99 season. The Eagles are 14-8 all-time at Pioneer Arena over that span, but Tusculum won 79-74 at home on Feb. 19 of last season to sweep the season series for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Tusculum also won their meeting in last year's SAC Championship semifinals 81-73 for their second-ever three-game winning streak over Carson-Newman. The only other time the Pioneers beat the Eagles three straight was a sweep of the 2010-11 season series plus a win in the first meeting of 2011-12.

SCOUTING THE INDIANS
Catawba's season has been even more intermittent than Carson-Newman. The Indians beat Anderson 77-63 in the season opener on Nov. 21, then sat out until Dec. 14 when the Indians downed Coker 74-60. After a 78-69 win at Mars Hill on Dec. 19, Catawba left for winter break and came back on Jan. 2 for a 60-55 win at Lenoir-Rhyne. However, the program shut down yet again and remains on hiatus until Saturday when Catawba (4-0) visits Lincoln Memorial.

All-SAC forward Taisha DeShazo is averaging just 8.8 points per game through Catawba's first four games. Senior guard Shemya Stanback is the Indians' top scorer at 11.0 points per game with sophomore guard Janiya Downs at 10.0 points per game off the bench. Stanback also leads Catawba in rebounding (7.7 per game) and assists (4.0 per contest).

A sweep of last year's season series left Catawba with a 25-23 advantage in the all-time series. The Indians are 13-10 against the Pioneers at Goodman Gymnasium, including a 53-52 win at home on Jan. 25 of last season for their seventh win in the last eight games over Tusculum.

FOLLOW THE GAMES
Brian Stayton "The Voice of the Pioneers" will describe all the action of Tusculum women's basketball on the Pioneer Sports Network, with pregame coverage starting 15 minutes before tip. Fans can listen locally on WSMG Radio at 95.5 FM and 1450 AM, and on-line at jewel955.com. Live video and live stats links for all games are available at www.TusculumPioneers.com.