ROCK HILL, SC – They're back again. For the second time in three seasons and fourth out of the last six seasons, the UVA Wise women's basketball team is playing in the SAC Tournament.

This year they enter as a five seed and will face Carson-Newman Thursday at noon in the opening game of the tournament's second day. The teams split earlier this season, with the Eagles taking the win in Jefferson City and the Highland Cavaliers led from wire-to-wire in the 83-70 win in Wise on Feb. 4.

In that last meeting Caroline Mullins had 24 points and 10 rebounds while Emiliea Preece had 22 points. Alissa Cheek had 17 points while holding C-N's Jennifer Sullivan, one of the SAC's top scorers, to 1 point.

This will be the second time the teams have met in the SAC Tournament, with the last meeting being an 86-69 loss to C-N in the 2022 tournament quarterfinals.

Tournament and ticket information can be found at the SAC's tournament website, while links to audio, video and live statistics can be found at UVAWiseCavs.com.

The game will be broadcast locally on WLSD-FM 92.5, with Chris Davis and Corey Sanchez on the call. Those broadcasts will begin 15 minutes prior to tip-off.

GETTING WISE
- The team is having one of their best seasons since joining the NCAA Division II in 2013, with only the 2016-17 squad posting a better record. They enter the tournament with a 16-12 regular season record, tying the 2022-23 squad for the most wins in a season in the Jamie Cluesman era.
- Statistically, the team ranks third in the SAC in points at 71.1 points a game, just behind Lenoir-Rhyne and Carson-Newman. They are second in field goal percentage (43.0), and fifth in 3-point percentage (31.9) and free throw percentage (75.4). They also are among the leaders in steals, assists, and blocks. They are holding their opponents to 39 percent shooting from the floor and 30.5 percent from behind the arc. The Cavs are outscoring the opposition 71.1-67.0 points a game.
- First Team All-SAC player Caroline Mullins leads the way for the team with 19.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists a game. Mullins currently leads the SAC in scoring with 19.9 points a game and also in total points with 537. She also ranks second in total rebounds (235) and defensive rebounds (172) and third in rebounds per game with 8.7. Her 19.9 points a game average also currently ranks as the third-best in program history, behind Christy Gray-Dalton (21.6 ppg) in 1997-98 and Wanda Slone (20.3 ppg) in 1991-92. She is the only SAC player this season to be named the WBCA/D2CIDA National Player of the Week.
- Madison Looney is averaging 11.7 points and 5.1 rebounds a game, while Jalie Ruehling is averaging 5.8 points, 6.2 rebounds (she probably is the top rebounding point guard in the SAC), 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals a game.
- Alissa Cheek is just shy of averaging ten points a game with her 9.8 average, but she is also one of the top defenders in the SAC and often has the task of guarding the opponent's best player.
- Emilea Preece is the team's top long-range ace with 30 treys on the season.
- Mia Nienaber (6.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg) is third on the team in blocks and a disruptive player on defense.
- Coach Jamie Cluesman enters the game with 107 career wins, putting her just five behind the 112 wins by the program's founder, Doris Kilgore. Kilgore coached the team from 1969-81 (apart from a two year break to work on a degree) and is still the program's winningest coach.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
- The Eagles lead the all-time series 15-1, but that one win by the Cavs was in their last meeting. That win broke a six-game winning streak by the Eagles and set them on a four game losing streak.
-Jennifer Sullivan (17.7 ppg, 75 three-pointers made) and Mattie Nuckolls (13.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 60 total blocks) are the two main offensive threats.
- Keeleigh Rogers (6.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg) is the Eagles' top rebounder.
- As a team, the Eagles are scoring 78.9 points a game while holding their opponents to 66.9 ppg.

THINGS TO WATCH
- Caroline Mullins enters the game with 537 points this season, which is the fourth most-points in a season by a UVA Wise women's basketball player. Christy Gray-Dalton had 736 in 1997-98 and 634 in 1996-97, while Sarah Helton had 555 in 2005-06. Rare air, indeed.
- Mullins also finished the SAC regular season as the league's top scorer in points and points per game. No other Highland Cavalier women's player has achieved that feat.
- The team is 1-3 in the SAC tournament.

UP NEXT
The winner of Thursday's game will advance to the SAC Tournament semifinals and will face Anderson, who upset SAC regular season champion Lenoir-Rhyne 79-63 in the opening game of the tournament.