GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Two weeks ago, the Tusculum University women's basketball team faced long odds in their quest for a third consecutive South Atlantic Conference tournament championship. Five victories later, the Pioneers control their own destiny to earn a berth in the SAC postseason as they enter the final week of the regular season.

Tusculum (12-14, 10-12 SAC) has vaulted into a tie for sixth place in the SAC standings after beating Lincoln Memorial 51-43 on the road on Wednesday and Coker at home by a 64-49 score on Saturday. The Pioneers have the longest current winning streak in the SAC at five in a row, and enter the week deadlocked with Newberry and UVA Wise at 10-12 in the league.

The Pioneers have borrowed a page from last year's championship playbook, in which they won the tournament title by allowing an average of 47.7 points in wins over Newberry, Catawba and Lincoln Memorial. During their current five-game winning streak, Tusculum has given up an average of 48.4 points per game while allowing no more than 52 points in any of their victories.

Tusculum hosts UVA Wise on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. for Senior Night and travels to Anderson on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regular season finale. The Pioneers will honor Jalia Arnwine, Elle Hutchinson, Brianna Dixon and Chloe Warrington during Wednesday's game with UVA Wise.

RECAPPING THE WEEK
Dixon, the reigning SAC Player of the Week, equaled her career high for the second straight game with 22 points to boost Tusculum to a 51-43 victory at Lincoln Memorial Wednesday evening at Tex Turner Arena. Dixon added eight rebounds and hit three key free throws in the final 40 seconds as the Pioneers won their season-best fourth consecutive game and moved a game and a half ahead of Lincoln Memorial and Lenoir-Rhyne in the race for the final SAC Championship tournament berth. Arnwine added 12 points and Jordan Rogers contributed 10 points and four steals for the Pioneers.

Dixon, who scored 22 points in Saturday's 56-49 win at Limestone to match her career best set last season against Carson-Newman, shot 8-for-18 from the field and 4-for-5 from the foul line, while adding two assists and two steals. Rogers, who was making her first start since Jan. 19, played 32 minutes and was 3-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 at the line and matched her career high with four steals, including a key theft in the final minute with the Pioneers holding on to a six-point lead.

Tusculum claimed its fifth consecutive victory Saturday with a 64-49 victory over Coker University at Pioneer Arena. Four players finished in double figures for the Pioneers, led by Arnwine with 18 points and Mya Belton with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with four blocked shots for her eighth double-double of the season.

Dixon also reached double figures for the Pioneers with 13 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Rogers added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists as Tusculum led by as many as 23 points in the second half. Tusculum came up with 14 steals on 24 Coker turnovers, converting them into 26 points.

PROFILING THE PIONEERS
Dixon leads the Pioneers in scoring at 14.2 points per game, and has reached double figures 12 times in 16 games including five in a row. Over the last five games, Dixon is averaging 17.8 points per game and is 12-for-30 (40 percent) from three-point range in that span. Dixon is 12th in the SAC in scoring and 11th in foul shooting at 78.9 percent (56-for-71), and eighth in minutes at 32.7 per game.

Arnwine is averaging 13.8 points per game and has finished in double figures in 11 games in a row. Arnwine is averaging 14.8 points per game over the last four games, and shooting an even 50 percent (21-for-42) from the field in those last four games, including 9-for-23 (39.1 percent) from three-point territory. She is up to 15th on the Tusculum career scoring list with 1,140 points, 81 behind Shynese Whitener who is 14th with 1,221 points.

After failing to reach double figures in back-to-back games against Limestone and Lincoln Memorial, Belton bounced back against Coker with 15 points and 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Belton remains second in the SAC in rebounding at 9.2 per game and is fourth in blocked shots (1.6) and 13th in steals (1.6) per game. Belton has 13 games this season with double digits in rebounds, and is averaging 12.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 1.8 steals during Tusculum's five-game winning streak.

Rogers has scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time since scoring in double digits in three straight in late November. She is fifth on the team in scoring at 6.5 points per game. Junior guard Sophie Henry is fourth in the conference in steals at 2.1 per game, tied for 10th in assists per game at 3.0 and seventh in the SAC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.7-to-1.

The Pioneers are 46th in Division II in scoring defense with a SAC-leading 58.7 points per game allowed. Tusculum is second in the conference and 52nd nationally in field goal defense at 36.8 percent, and the Pioneers' 198 made three-pointers are second to Lincoln Memorial (221) in the SAC. Tusculum's scoring offense of 61.1 points per game is 10th in the league.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
UVA Wise (10-15, 10-12 SAC) had its three-game winning streak come to an end with a decisive 84-53 loss at Wingate on Saturday. UVA Wise shot just 2-for-21 from three-point range and was outrebounded 51-35 by the Bulldogs in the loss. The Cavaliers fell to 3-8 in conference road games with the loss.

Junior guard Nia Vanzant leads the Cavaliers in scoring at 15.9 points per game, ranking seventh in the SAC. Vanzant, who plays a conference-high 35.6 minutes per game, is ninth in the league in field goal percentage (45.8 percent) and 10th in foul shooting at 79.2 percent. Vanzant has scored in double figures in all but one game, and has six 20-point games.

Senior forward Kalee Johnson is averaging 14.6 points per game to rank 11th in the conference in scoring, and is ninth in rebounding at 7.4 per game. Johnson is third in the league in free throw percentage at 89.0 percent (65-for-73), making 22 of her last 23 from the line. Johnson, a first-team All-SAC pick last season, had a season-high 28 points against Coker on Feb. 7.

Junior guard Caitlyn Ross, also a first-team All-SAC selection a year ago, is averaging just 8.7 points per game but ranks second in the SAC with 4.0 assists and 11th in steals at 1.7 per game. Senior center Meg Crawford is second in the SAC at 2.2 blocks per game and averages 9.3 points and 6.8 rebounds, though she has missed the Cavaliers' last three games.

The Cavaliers average 67.2 points per game to rank sixth in the SAC, but are 11th in the league in points allowed at 71.2 points per contest. UVA Wise leads the conference in foul shooting at 77.3 percent, and is fifth in field goal percentage at 41.3 percent. The Cavaliers are 11th in the league in both three-pointers made (4.6) and attempted (16.3) per game.

UVA Wise won the first meeting between the teams on Nov. 27 at Wise by a score of 69-62. Tusculum leads the all-time series 21-9, and have won 13 of the 14 meetings all-time in Greeneville. UVA Wise's only win on the road in the series was a 63-58 victory on Nov. 26, 2016, with Tusculum winning both meetings at Pioneer Arena since the Cavaliers joined the SAC for the 2019-20 season.

Anderson (18-9, 18-5 SAC) also lost a winning streak on Saturday, as the Trojans had their nine-game run stopped with a 58-46 loss at Catawba on Saturday. The Trojans, who were coming off an 88-71 win over first-place Wingate on Wednesday, shot 36.2 percent and committed 20 turnovers in the loss to the Indians, with SAC Player of the Year candidate Shameka McNeill held to 13 points.

McNeill leads Division II in scoring at 23.2 points per game and has scored in double figures in all but one of her 24 games this season. McNeill had scored 20 or more points in 15 straight games before shooting 4-for-11 against Catawba on Saturday. McNeill is 72-for-209 from three-point range and is ninth in the nation in three-pointers per game at 3.00, with a streak of 21 straight games with a three-pointer.

Junior Brittney Stafford is the only other player to average in double figures for the Trojans at 10.1 points per game, but seven players are averaging 7.0 points per game or more. Freshman Diamond McDowell averages 8.8 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game. Senior forward Taylor Hair checks in at 7.9 points per game and forward Samantha Michel is at 7.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and a SAC-high 2.3 blocks per game.

Anderson, which is idle until Saturday's game with the Pioneers, leads the SAC and ranks third in Division II in rebounding (45.3 per game). The Trojans are fourth in the SAC in scoring at 69.1 points per game and fifth in scoring defense at 62.8 points per game, while leading the SAC in field goal defense at 36.0 percent. Anderson is last in the conference in forced turnovers, averaging just 13.96 per game.

The Trojans beat the Pioneers 80-55 at Pioneer Arena on Jan. 26 to take a 22-9 lead in the all-time series. Tusculum is 2-12 all-time on the road against Anderson, and had lost nine straight at the Abney Athletic Center before winning 65-61 on Jan. 9 of last season.

TICKETS
Admission for 2021-22 Tusculum home basketball games is $10 for all entrants and children 12 and under will be admitted free. Tusculum students will be admitted free and valid Tusculum ID is required. Fans may also purchase tickets online in advance through HomeTown Ticketing at www.TusculumPioneers.com/information/tickets . Spectators using HomeTown Ticketing can choose to print tickets at home or use mobile entry tickets at the gate.

FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Fans can watch the action of Tusculum women's basketball all season at www.TusculumPioneers.com on the Pioneer Sports Network and the SAC Digital Network. The radio call of the games will also be available locally on WSMG Radio on 95.5 FM and 1450 AM, as well as online at https://jewel955.com/listenlive .