GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's basketball team will face its first familiar opponent of the 2020-21 season when the Pioneers travel to Lenoir-Rhyne for their only game of the week on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Pioneers (10-1, 10-1 SAC), ranked 21st in the latest D2SIDA national poll, have faced 11 different teams over the first two months of the season but will get their second crack at the Bears on Saturday. Tusculum defeated Lenoir-Rhyne 67-44 at Pioneer Arena on Dec. 12, the Pioneers' sixth of their season-opening nine consecutive victories.
Tusculum is 5-0 on the road this season, marking the second straight year that the Pioneers have had a five-game road winning streak. Tusculum has not won six in a row on the road since the 2007-08 season, when the Pioneers won seven straight from Dec. 1 through Jan. 15.
Saturday's game will be the third of four straight at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium for the Bears, who will take a 2-7 record into action against Mars Hill on Wednesday night following a 78-66 win over Queens on Monday. Five players scored in double figures for the Bears, who snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Tusculum saw an 11-point second-half lead slip away in less than six minutes of the third quarter at Catawba on Monday night, but strong fourth-quarter defense and all-around play from Brianna Dixon lifted the Pioneers in the fourth to a 68-61 victory over the previously-unbeaten Indians.
Dixon, who may have swung the game's momentum by sinking a 30-foot shot at the third-quarter buzzer, finished with a team-high 19 points along with five rebounds and five assists. Dixon is third on the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game and ranks 10th in the SAC in field-goal percentage at 47.4 percent.
Dixon has played all 90 minutes over the last two games, scoring 41 points (20.5 ppg) to lead Tusculum in scoring against both Carson-Newman and Catawba. She has also hit three end-of-quarter buzzer-beaters over the last two games, including the tying shot at the end of regulation against Carson-Newman and three-pointers to close the second and third quarters at Catawba.
Senior center Maddie Sutton posted her Division II-best ninth double-double of the season at Catawba, finishing with 11 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Sutton has posted five straight double-doubles, becoming the first Pioneer with five double-doubles in a row since Whitley Campbell in February, 2001.
Sutton leads Division II in total rebounds (172) and her 15.6 rebounds per game lead the conference and ranks second nationally to reigning DII rebound champion Lilly Ritz of Wheeling, who has 16.6 rebounds per game through five games.
Junior guard Marta Rodrigues scored a season-high 14 points at Catawba, hitting 3-for-4 from three-point range and 5-for-6 at the foul line. Rodrigues ranks second in the SAC with 6.3 assists per game and leads the SAC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9 assists per turnover. Like Dixon, Rodrigues has played all 90 minutes over the last two games, and has turned the ball over just twice in that span.
Tusculum continues to lead the SAC in scoring defense (54.6 ppg, 10th in DII), field goal percentage defense (31.8 percent, 7th in DII) and three-point percentage defense (23.6 percent, 13th in DII). The Pioneers also lead the SAC in three-pointers per game (9.1, 20th in DII) and in scoring margin (+15.2 ppg, 18th in DII). The only categories in which Tusculum is not in the top half of the conference are two in which it led the SAC last season -- steals per game (7.6, 8th in SAC) and turnovers forced (14.8 per game, 11th in SAC).
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Lenoir-Rhyne is slowing putting the pieces on the court after going without several key performances through December. No player on the roster has appeared in all nine games, and 13 different players have made at least one start.
Sophomore guard Ashley Woodroffe, who averaged 8.1 points per game as a freshman, made her season debut Monday against Queens and finished with 10 points, six rebounds and six assists in 40 minutes. Senior guard Kennedy Weigt played her first two games of the year last week, scoring 23 against Carson-Newman and 14 against Wingate.
The Bears, who are last in the conference in scoring offense at 60.1 points per game, scored a season-best 78 points against Queens on Monday while shooting a season-high 50.9 percent (28-for-55) from the field. Freshman guard Emily Harman, who leads all SAC freshman in scoring and ranks fifth in the conference at 14.4 points per game, did not play against Queens.
Tusculum has won seven straight against Lenoir-Rhyne, equaling the Pioneers' longest winning streak over the Bears from 2009-10 through 2012-13. The Bears are 14-9 all-time against the Pioneers at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium, but Tusculum has won three in a row on the road for the first time in the series history.
FOLLOW THE GAME
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.
