JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. --- Maria Kuhlman hit four three-pointers during a third-quarter surge for Belmont Abbey College which lifted the top-seeded Crusaders to a 74-59 victory over Tusculum University in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Southeast Regional Saturday night at Holt Fieldhouse.
Kuhlman, the nation's top three-point shooter at 57.4 percent entering the game, went 6-for-8 from three-point range and 8-for-11 from the field as the Crusaders (23-2) won their 19th straight game and advance to face Barton in the region finals on Monday night. Allie Downing added 14 points and nine rebounds and Brittany Autry had eight points and five boards for the Crusaders, who went 10-for-16 from the field and 5-for-8 from beyond the arc while outscoring the Pioneers 25-16 in the crucial third quarter.
Maddie Sutton and Brianna Dixon shared the team lead with 16 points apiece for the fourth-seeded Pioneers (19-4), who shot 35.9 percent (23-for-64) from the field and scored just one field goal in a span of nearly eight minutes as the Crusaders used a 19-4 run to turn a 42-40 deficit into a 59-44 lead.
Sutton finished with a team-high eight rebounds, snapping her streak of consecutive double-doubles at 16. The first-team All-South Atlantic Conference selection and SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player ended the season with an Division II-leading 20 double-doubles in 23 games, and set both the SAC and school single-season records for rebounds per game at 14.6. Sutton broke the conference season record of 14.3 rebounds per game set by Tonya Roper of Wingate in 1993-94, and shattered the school single-season mark of 12.4 rebounds per contest set by Pam York in 1981-82.
Tusculum had a 22-14 lead midway through the second quarter, but Belmont Abbey cut the margin to four at halftime. A back-and-forth third quarter featured 11 lead changes, but three straight three-pointers from Kuhlman in the final two minutes gave the Crusaders a 49-44 lead entering the fourth. Down the stretch, Belmont Abbey went 14-for-18 from the foul line while Tusculum shot 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from the field in the final period.
The Pioneers took an early 10-5 lead following a three-pointer from Mya Belton with 4:26 left in the opening quarter, but the Crusaders tied the game on a layup by Kuhlman with 58 seconds to go at 10-10. A three-pointer from Jalia Arnwine restored Tusculum's lead at 13-10 heading to the second quarter.
A three-pointer by Belton and back-to-back layups from Dixon gave Tusculum its largest lead at 22-14 with 5:56 to play in the first half. The lead was 28-21 following a pair of foul shots from Dixon with 1:41 left, but the Pioneers went without a field goal for the final 3:48 as a late three-pointer from Kuhlman cut the Tusculum lead to 28-24 at intermission.
Dixon led Tusculum with 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting in the first half while Belton had eight points and Sutton added seven. The Pioneers shot 35.5 percent (11-for-31) from the field and went 3-for-8 from long range in the half. Belmont Abbey received eight points and five rebounds from Kuhlman and five apiece from Downing and Keyanna Spivey, but shot just 3-for-11 from three-point range and 34.5 percent (10-for-29) overall from the field.
Belmont Abbey scored the first five points of the third quarter to take a 29-28 lead on a layup by Autry with 7:55 left in the third quarter. The teams would then swap the lead back and forth over the next four minutes before a layup from Kelli Thomas brought the Crusaders into a 40-40 tie with 3:54 left in the quarter. A layup by Sutton would give the Pioneers their final lead at 42-40 with 2:44 remaining, but Kuhlman drained three-pointers on three of the final four possessions for the Crusaders as Belmont Abbey grabbed a 49-44 lead heading to the final quarter.
The Crusaders opened the fourth quarter with 10 of the first 12 points to take a 59-46 lead on a three-pointer from Hannah Roney, her lone field goal in three attempts, with 5:23 left. Tusculum got as close as nine on a steal and layup by Arnwine with 2:16 left, but Belmont Abbey went 12-for-15 at the foul line in the final two minutes. Sutton scored the final field goal of the season for the Pioneers with a three-pointer with 54 seconds left, while Jordan Rogers made a foul shot with 30 seconds left to end the scoring for the season.
Arnwine, who had a career-high 26 points in Friday's 77-64 opening-round win over Tuskegee, finished with 12 points on 5-for-15 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers. Rodrigues had three points and three rebounds along with five assists against just one turnover, while playing all 40 minutes for the eighth consecutive game.
Roney led all players with a season-high 12 assists for the Crusaders, who had 14 turnovers as a team compared to 11 for the Pioneers. Belmont Abbey, which entered the game leading Division II in rebound margin at plus 12.7 rebounds per game, had a 41-34 edge on the boards over Tusculum.
Belmont Abbey will play Barton, an 80-64 winner over Catawba in Saturday's other regional semifinal, in Monday's title game. The Crusaders and Bulldogs will meet for the fourth time this season, with Belmont Abbey holding a 2-1 edge in the series including a 68-62 overtime win in the Conference Carolinas championship game.
