Tusculum, Wingate Earn Bids To NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS --- The Tusculum College women's basketball team
will make its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II
Tournament, earning the sixth seed in the Southeast Regional hosted
by Clayton State University in Morrow, Ga.
The Pioneers (21-8), the defending Southeast Region champions, will
face third seed University of South Carolina Aiken in Friday's
quarterfinal action at the Athletics & Fitness Center on the
Clayton State campus. Game time and ticket information will be
announced Monday.
Tusculum earned its second straight Food Lion South Atlantic
Conference Tournament championship with a 77-66 victory over
Wingate University Sunday afternoon, securing the league's
automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. USC Aiken (26-5) lost 62-49
to Georgia College in the Peach Belt Conference championship game
and earned an at-large bid to the tournament.
Last year, the Pioneers entered the Southeast Regional as the
seventh seed after winning their first-ever SAC title, then upset
three nationally-ranked teams to capture the regional crown and
advance to the Elite Eight for the first time. Tusculum is 4-3 in
three previous trips to the NCAA Division II tournament.
Friday's game between the Pioneers and the Pacers will be the
second meeting of the year between the squads. USC Aiken defeated
Tusculum 61-48 in the Lady Bearcat D2 Tip-Off Classic at Lander
University on November 14. The Pacers are 2-0 all-time against the
Pioneers, winning 70-61 in the teams' first matchup on November 24,
2008.
Tusculum, under second-year head coach Adell Harris (44-18 record),
enters the NCAA Tournament having posted a gaudy 17-3 record since
mid-December after opening the season with a 4-5 mark. USC Aiken
had won 10 straight games, including a 73-72 overtime victory over
then-unbeaten and top-ranked Clayton State in the Peach Belt
Conference semifinals, before losing to Georgia College in the PBC
finals. The Pacers are also making their fourth trip to the NCAA
Division II tournament, and second in the last three years.
The Pioneers are led by 4-11 senior guard Jasmine Gunn (Nashville,
Tenn.), who was named the SAC Player of the Year for the second
consecutive season. She averages a conference-best 18.7 points per
game and has scored 2,160 career points, three shy of moving into
third place on the SAC all-time scoring list. SAC Tournament MVP
Catherine Hintz (Hastings, Minn.), a 6-8 senior center, averages
12.0 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game and leads the
Pioneers with 42 blocked shots.
The Pacers, ranked 12th in the latest USA TODAY/ESPN Division II
Top 25 poll, feature a defense which allows an average of 55.2
points per game. Freshman forward Kayla Harris is the team's
leading scorer at 12.1 points per game, and was named PBC Rookie of
the Year. Hannah DeGraffinreed, a second-team All-PBC honoree,
averages 11.7 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per contest while
shooting 55.7 percent from the field.
Tusculum has posted a 3-5 record this season against teams that
earned bids to the NCAA Division II tournament, including two wins
over Wingate and one over Lewis, champions of the Great Lakes
Valley Conference.
The winner of the Tusculum/USC Aiken game will advance to the
regional semifinals on Saturday against the winner of the game
between No. 2 seed Lander and No. 7 seed Wingate, which received an
at-large bid out of the SAC.
Regional host Clayton State, the top seed in the field, will face
No. 8 seed Francis Marion and No. 4 seed Georgia College will take
on No. 5 seed Barton, the Conference Carolinas tournament champion,
in other quarterfinal contests. The regional final will be played
Monday night.
2011 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional
Hosted by Clayton State University ▪ Morrow, Ga.
All game times to be announced
Friday, March 11 (Regional Quarterfinals)
No. 1 Clayton State vs. No. 8 Francis Marion
No. 4 Georgia College vs. No. 5 Barton
No. 3 USC Aiken vs. No. 6 Tusculum
No. 2 Lander vs. No. 7 Wingate
Saturday, March 12 (Regional Semifinals)
Clayton State/Francis Marion winner vs. Georgia College/Barton
winner
USC Aiken/Tusculum winner vs. Lander/Wingate winner
Monday, March 14 (Regional Final)
Semifinal winners