GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Jalia Arnwine scored 22 points and Maddie Sutton recorded her 13th straight double-double with 20 points and 18 rebounds as Tusculum University held Newberry College to one field goal over the final five minutes for a 59-43 victory in the quarterfinals of the Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship Monday night at Pioneer Arena.
The second-seeded and defending tournament champion Pioneers (16-3) overcame 32.8 percent shooting by hitting 14-for-14 from the foul line in the final 3:33, including 12 in a row by Sutton in a span of 67 seconds inside the final two minutes. Tusculum shot 17-for-18 (94.4 percent) from the line in the game, tied for the sixth-best single-game performance in program history.
With the win, Tusculum will host Catawba in a semifinal game on Thursday, after the third-seeded Indians defeated sixth-seeded Limestone 81-60 in the quarterfinals on Monday. The winner of Thursday's game between the Pioneers and Indians will host the conference championship game on Sunday with an NCAA Division II Tournament automatic bid at stake.
Sutton shot 4-for-14 from the field and saw her streak of consecutive double-doubles in jeopardy until the final 1:21, when she hit 12 straight from the stripe to set the SAC Championship single-game record for most free throws without a miss, breaking the mark of 11-for-11 set by Lakia Hayes of Elon against Carson-Newman in 1997. Sutton also tied Shynese Whitener, who was 12-for-12 on Feb. 17, 2016 at Carson-Newman, for the second-most foul shots without a miss in a game in Pioneer history. Amy Bible holds the school record with a 16-for-16 effort against Bluefield on Jan. 24, 1994. The double-double was the NCAA Division II-leading 17th of the season for Sutton, the SAC Player of the Year candidate who recorded her fourth 20-point game in the last seven contests.
Arnwine shot 8-for-15 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the foul line for the Pioneers, who were just 4-for-21 (19 percent) from three-point range but held Newberry to 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) from beyond the arc and 25.9 percent (15-for-58) for the game. Tusculum finished the game with a 45-39 edge in rebounding and forced the Wolves into 18 turnovers.
Keli Romas led the seventh-seeded Wolves (10-10) with nine points on 3-for-11 shooting while Kelsey Brett had eight points and five rebounds. Talia Roberts added seven points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 16 minutes off the bench for the Wolves, who led briefly in the opening 90 seconds and trailed by 10 at halftime before twice pulling within three points in the fourth.
Tusculum opened the scoring on a putback by Mya Belton in the opening minute, but Courtney Virgo hit a three to give Newberry what would be its only lead of the game at 3-2. The Pioneers scored six straight to go up 8-3 on two foul shots by Arnwine with 6:19 left in the quarter, and the lead grew to eight points at 15-7 on a Brianna Dixon three-pointer with 2:46 left in the quarter. The Pioneers' largest lead of the quarter came at 19-10 on an Arnwine layup with one minute left in the period, and the score went unchanged as the Wolves went scoreless for the final 2:23 of the frame.
Newberry scored the first four points of the second quarter, but a layup by Arnwine and a three-pointer from Belton extended Tusculum's lead to 24-14 with 7:35 left in the half. A layup by Newberry's Ericka Wiseley cut Tusculum's lead to 26-18 with 5:17 left, and the teams went scoreless for the rest of the half until the Pioneers' Aliyah Miller sank a layup with six seconds left. Newberry closed the half going 0-for-5 from the field with four turnovers.
The Pioneers' 28-18 lead at half was fueled by 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting from Arnwine and five points and four rebounds from Belton. Tusculum shot 34.3 percent (12-for-35) from the field and 2-for-11 from three-point range, while Newberry hit 26.9 percent (7-for-26) from the floor and 2-for-9 from long range. Wiseley led Newberry with six points in the opening half as the only Wolves player with more than one field goal, on 3-for-7 shooting.
Three-pointers from Dixon and Arnwine helped the Pioneers to a 34-22 lead with 7:27 left in the third quarter, and a Miller layup pushed Tusculum's advantage to 38-25 with 4:36 to go. However, that would be the final field goal of the quarter for the Pioneers as they missed their final four shot attempts and turned the ball over three times. Newberry used a three-pointer from Romas and a rare four-point play by Roberts to cut the Tusculum lead to 39-33 at the end of three quarters.
Newberry pulled within 41-38 on a three-pointer from Brett with 7:29 left, but a basket by Arnwine restored Tusculum's five-point lead. Brett sank a layup on a fast break to cut the Pioneer lead to 43-40 with 5:05 to play, but a basket by Sutton following an offensive rebound stretched the Tusculum advantage to 45-40 with 4:15 to go on what turned out to be the final field goal of the game by the Pioneers. Two free throws from Arnwine made it 47-40 Tusculum with 3:33 left, as Newberry went cold from the floor. The Wolves missed five straight shots and turned the ball over three times while trying to dent Tusculum's seven-point advantage, and Sutton took over in the final 1:21 as she went 12-for-12 from the line while grabbing three rebounds.
Belton finished the game with five points and five rebounds for the Pioneers, while Miller had six points on 3-for-6 shooting in 10 minutes off the Tusculum bench. Dixon had six points, seven rebounds and four assists along with a pair of steals.
Tusculum is the top remaining seed in the SAC Championship tournament following eighth-seeded Lincoln Memorial's 78-72 upset win at number-one seed Carson-Newman in quarterfinal action. The winner of Thursday's game between Tusculum and Catawba will host the title game on Sunday against the winner of Thursday's other semifinal game. Fifth-seeded Anderson, which beat fourth-seeded UVA Wise 65-49, will host Lincoln Memorial in that contest.
