“March Madness” has come to the Tusculum College campus! h the women’s and men’s basketball teams will be playing this weekend in the NCAA Division II tournament. This is the first time in school history that the two teams have received bids to play in the NCAA tournament in the same year.
For the second straight season, the women’s basketball team will be competing in the national tournament, and for the second straight year, their opponent in the first round with Lander University. The Southeast Regional game on Friday will be played in Hickory, NC. Last year, Lander won a hard-fought battle by five points.
The women’s team is ranked 13th in the nation and finished the regular season with a share of the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) championship with Lenior-Rhyne (L-R) College. The two met in the finals of the conference tournament last weekend with L-R coming out on top. Three women’s basketball players were named to the 2008-09 All-South Atlantic Conference Team. Stephany Neptune and Jasmine Gunn return to the All-SAC First Team, while Ashli Oliver, the SAC’s all-time leader in three-point field goals, garnered Second Team recognition and earns a spot on the All-Conference team for a third straight season.
The men’s basketball team will be traveling to Augusta, GA, for the Southeast Regional first round game Saturday against host Augusta State University. This is the second time the team has competed in the tournament, the first coming in 2005 when the Pioneers suffered a heartbreaking, three-point overtime loss to Bowie State University. This year’s team is the first in over 15 years to post a 20-win season.
Ending the season with a share of second-place in the South Atlantic Conference, the team advanced to the finals of the SAC tournament, where the team fell to Catawba College by two points.
Guard Kyle Moore has been chosen as SAC Men’s Basketball layer of the Year, the first player in the program’s history to earn that honor. Moore led the conference in scoring and three-point baskets. He established a new Tusculum-single season record with 190 made free throws.
Joining Moore on the All SAC Team was point guard Ryan Troutman, who earned a spot on the All SAC-second team. Taylor Hobbs, also a guard, earned a spot on the SAC All-Freshman Team.