GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's basketball team hosts Newberry College in a Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Championship tournament quarterfinal game on Monday evening at Pioneer Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
The Pioneers (15-3, 15-3 SAC) are the number-two seed in the tournament and received an opening-round bye. Newberry (10-9, 9-8 SAC), the number-seven seed in the tournament, watched a 16-point halftime lead evaporate before using a 5-0 run in the final minute to get past Wingate 70-69 in an opening-round matchup on Saturday.
Tusculum is the defending SAC Tournament champions, while Newberry is seeking its first title since 2015. Both the Pioneers and the Wolves have three SAC Championships to their credit, with Tusculum also winning in 2010 and 2011 and Newberry winning back-to-back crowns in 2006 and 2007 in addition to their 2015 championship.
The Pioneers had a chance to win their first SAC regular-season championship since 2011, but a late rally fell short in the regular-season finale at UVA Wise on Wednesday as Tusculum lost 80-72 to drop behind Carson-Newman (15-2 SAC) in the final standings. Newberry is 9-1 at home this season with seven consecutive wins, but just 1-8 on the road with four straight losses since their lone win away from home, a 65-50 victory at Mars Hill on Jan. 9. Tusculum is 6-2 at home but has a stellar 9-1 road record this season despite the loss at UVA Wise in their most-recent game. The Pioneers won 72-50 at Newberry in their only regular-season meeting on Dec. 5, as the contest scheduled for Feb. 6 at Pioneer Arena was canceled due to COVID protocols.
Monday's game will be the eighth between the Wolves and the Pioneers in the SAC Tournament, dating back to the Pioneers' first conference tournament game as a SAC member which the Wolves won 65-58 at Newberry on Feb. 28, 2000. The teams would then establish a fierce rivalry built on six tournament meetings in a span of seven years, starting with a 57-50 Newberry win in the 2006 championship game. The Wolves then claimed a 75-62 win in the 2007 semifinals before the Pioneers beat the Wolves 69-54 in the 2008 semifinals. Tusculum returned the favor for the 2006 title-game loss with a 67-55 victory in the 2010 championship game, then defeated Newberry 61-45 in the 2011 semifinals. The last meeting came in the 2012 quarterfinals, when the sixth-seeded Wolves knocked off the third-seeded Pioneers 60-54 at Pioneer Arena to take a 4-3 lead in the postseason history between the schools.
The winner of Monday's game will advance to Thursday's semifinals against the winner of the game between third-seeded Catawba and sixth-seeded Limestone. Tusculum would be home if they advance with a win over Newberry, while the Wolves would be on the road for the semifinals with a victory over the Pioneers. The championship game will be played Sunday, March 7 at the highest remaining seed.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Senior center Maddie Sutton added to her SAC Player of the Year credentials and finished a stellar month of February with her 12th consecutive double-double and her 16th overall this season, which is tied for the lead in NCAA Division II. Against UVA Wise, Sutton scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, while playing every minute for the sixth time this season. Sutton has played at least 34 minutes in 16 of the Pioneers' 18 games, with the exceptions of blowout wins against Coker (29 minutes) and Mars Hill (30 minutes). In six games during February, Sutton averaged 22.8 points per game on 51.1 percent shooting from the field and 85.4 percent at the foul line, along with 15.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Sutton had never scored 20 points in a single game in her Tusculum career until February, when she exploded for three games of 29 points or more including 32 at Queens on Feb. 8 and a career-best 33 at Coker on Feb. 20.
Junior guard Marta Rodrigues tallied 13 points in the loss to UVA Wise, marking the ninth time this season that Rodrigues reached double figures in points. Rodrigues continues to rank second in the SAC in assists per game at 6.2, and leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.64-to-1. Rodrigues, who averages 7.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, has played all 40 minutes in each of the last three games and has played every second of nine of the Pioneers' 18 contests. Rodrigues has played at least 34 minutes in every game, and ranks third in Division II at 38.8 minutes per game.
Senior guard Jalia Arnwine has been a key part of the Pioneers' success all season long. She is averaging 15.0 points per game in the Pioneers' 15 wins, and just 2.0 points per game in their three losses. Arnwine ranks fifth in program history with 141 career three-pointers, breaking a tie with Sydney Wilson for sixth place in the UVA Wise game, and she is 13 attempts away from tying Wilson for third place on the program all-time list. Arnwine is averaging 12.8 points per game and shooting 35 percent from three-point range, while ranking seventh in the conference with 42 made three-pointers.
Senior guard Brianna Dixon had her streak of eight straight games with a made three-pointer come to an end against UVA Wise as she missed her only attempt. Dixon is still hot from beyond the arc, having made 10 of her last 16 tries over the past eight games. She has scored at least seven points in nine straight games and averages 10.8 points per game while ranking ninth in the SAC in field-goal percentage at 47.0 percent.
Tusculum set season worsts against UVA Wise in points allowed (80), field-goal percentage allowed (48.3 percent) and three-point percentage allowed (47.6 percent). Despite that, Tusculum still leads the SAC in scoring defense (57.5 ppg, 19th in Division II) and field-goal defense (34.6 percent, 14th) but has slipped to second in three-point defense (28.6 percent). The Pioneers continue to lead the SAC in three-pointers per game (9.4, 11th in DII) and three-point percentage (37.7 percent, 12th) while ranking second in fewest turnovers per game at 13.6.
SCOUTING THE WOLVES
Newberry literally survived and advanced as the Wolves let a 42-26 halftime lead disappear before rallying to beat Wingate 70-69 in the opening round on Saturday. Courtney Virgo hit four three-pointers and scored 18 points to lead the Wolves, while Kelsey Brett had 14 points and five rebounds and Keli Romas added seven points, six rebounds and nine assists. Newberry shot 11-for-29 from three-point range but committed 20 turnovers and was outrebounded by Wingate by a 40-29 margin.
Virgo, a sophomore, leads the Wolves in scoring and is the only player averaging double figures at 10.7 points per game, while also leading the team with 5.6 rebounds per game. She lead the Wolves with 53 three-pointers, which ranks second in the SAC, and has hit four or more threes in a game six times this season. Virgo has scored in every game except the first meeting with Tusculum on Dec. 5, when she went scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting in 28 minutes. Brett is second in scoring at 8.8 points per game and senior guard Talia Roberts averages 8.4 points in nine games since making her season debut on Jan. 11. Romas, a preseason first-team All-SAC member, averages 6.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game with a season high of 21 against Wingate on Jan. 6.
Newberry ranks last in the SAC in turnovers, committing 17.5 per game with seven games of 20 or more. The Wolves are third in the SAC in three-pointers made per game (8.4) and in three-point percentage (36.1) but rank 10th out of 13 in three-point defense at 33.7 percent. The Wolves are eighth in the conference in scoring at 67.5 points per game, and rank sixth in scoring defense at 65.7 points per contest.
SERIES HISTORY
Tusculum leads the all-time series over Newberry by a 28-24 margin. The teams split the season series last year, winning on each other's home court. Tusculum has won five of the last seven meetings with Newberry, but the Wolves won in their last trip to Pioneer Arena by a 73-60 score on Feb. 1, 2020. Tusculum has the advantage in the all-time series at Pioneer Arena by a margin of 14 wins to 9.
FOLLOW THE GAME
Coverage of all the action of Tusculum women's basketball is 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.
2021 Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference
Women's Basketball Championship
Saturday, February 27 - Opening round
#8 Lincoln Memorial 80, #9 Coker 66
#7 Newberry 70, #10 Wingate 69
#6 Limestone 63, #11 Lenoir-Rhyne 49
#5 Anderson 64, #12 Mars Hill 56
#4 UVA Wise 85, #13 Queens 63
Monday, March 1 - Quarterfinals
Game 6: #8 Lincoln Memorial at #1 Carson-Newman, 5:30 p.m.
Game 7: #7 Newberry at #2 Tusculum, 5:30 p.m.
Game 8: #6 Limestone at #3 Catawba, 7 p.m.
Game 9: #5 Anderson at #4 UVA Wise, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 4 - Semifinals
Game 10: winner game 6 vs. winner game 9, TBA
Game 11: winner game 7 vs. winner game 8, TBA
Sunday, March 7 - Championship
Game 12: winner game 10 vs. winner game 11, TBA
