WISE - - UVA Wise kept its hopes alive of an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament and ended No. 25 Tusculum's dream of winning the regular season South Atlantic Conference women's basketball crown with an 80-72 triumph at the Prior Center Wednesday.

UVA Wise (14-4, 13-4 SAC) led wire-to-wire in the win and controlled the contest from start to finish.

Tusculum (15-3, 15-3 SAC) missed its first 10 shots of the contest, falling behind 12-0 in the process. The Cavalier duo of Kalee Johnson and Caitlyn Ross combined for 53 points and the pair got it going early.

Johnson broke the ice with one of her career-high four 3-pointers to start the game-opening scoring spurt. Moments later, Ross drilled a 3-pointer as the duo combined to score the game's first 10 points. A third UVA Wise player got in on the act when Ada Stanley scored inside with 3:41 to play in the period to cap the run.

The Pioneers would cut the lead to eight with less than a minute to play in the quarter when Maddie Sutton scored inside only to see Ross and Johnson score the final five points of the opening 10 minutes to go to the second quarter with a 23-10 advantage.

The lead would swell to 20 points with 3:30 to play in the first half when Nia Vanzant scored a fast break basket to make it a 42-22 contest.

Tusculum closed the half on a 10-to-3 run that featured two 3-pointers, one each by Marta Rodrigues and Kirsten Click as the visitors went to intermission trailing 45-32.

UVA Wise would maintain a double-digit lead until the 7:15 mark of the third quarter when Sutton completed a traditional 3-point play cutting the lead to 47-39.

The momentum was short lived for the Pioneers; the Cavs countered with a 10-to-2 with a burst. The run featured 3-point buckets by Ross and Mackenzie King.

The Pioneers would mount one final run, back-to-back shots from distance by Clark and Sutton made it a 69-64 game with 5:24 to play.

As was the story all night, Jamie Cluesman's crew answered. A layup by Ross preceded a basket by Johnson and two foul shots by Hanna Oliver to run the lead to 75-64 with 42 seconds remaining effectively ending the game.

Johnson tied a career-high with 28 points while adding 15 rebounds while Ross poured in 25 points with 12 assists. Vanzant added 15 points and eight boards as all three women played all 40 minutes.

The Cavs shot 48.3 percent from the floor for the game while making 10-of-21 shots from beyond the arc.

Tusculum was limited to 36.5 percent shooting, but received a game-high 29 points from Sutton who added 16 rebounds. Marta Rodrigues chipped in 13 points while adding five assists and four rebounds.

Due to Tusculum's loss, Carson-Newman claimed the regular season title with a win at Lincoln Memorial University.

With the win, UVA Wise has now defeated a ranked opponent at home for the second consecutive season.

UVA Wise will be the No. 4 seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will play at home Saturday. The opponent and game time will be released later Wednesday evening.