GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Newberry College women's basketball team dropped an 83-70 decision to No. 22 Tusculum College in Pioneer Arena Wednesday night. The Pioneers clinch the South Atlantic Conference regular season championship with the win.

Newberry (16-8, 6-6 SAC) was led by Tonique Frasier (Walterboro, S.C.), who scored 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Laura Marquardt (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) was the only other Lady Indian in double figures with 12 points.

Tusculum (22-3, 12-1 SAC) only had nine points from the reserves and had three players score 15 or more. Ashli Oliver led all players with 27 points and tied the South Atlantic Conference record for made three-pointers in a career with her seventh trifecta of the night. Jasmine Gunn also scored 22 points and Shantae Shank netted 15 points. Stephany Neptune grabbed 11 rebounds to lead all players.

Neither team pulled away in the first half until a 5-0 Tusculum run gave the Pioneers a 19-13 lead with 11:56 until the break. However, the Lady Indians pulled back within one with a 5-0 run of their own, narrowing it to 19-18 with 10:11 left in the half.

A later five-point run gave Tusculum its largest lead of the half at 29-21 with 6:38 left in the opening period. Newberry kept cutting away at the lead and a running long-distance three-pointer from Ashley Marine (Peachtree City, Ga.) at the buzzer made the halftime score 34-31 in favor of the hosts.

Newberry took the lead at the 17:49 mark on a Frasier layup, but the lead was immediately erased on a fast break lay-in from Oliver just three seconds later. The score was tied at 46-all with 13:42 to play, but the Pioneers went on an 8-0 run over the next 40 seconds to pull away. The hosts led by as many as 15 down the stretch en route to their first SAC title.

The Lady Indians connected on 25-of-55 shots (44.8 percent), while the Pioneers only made 42.4 percent (28-of-66) of their shots, but the 11-shot difference proved to be a factor in the contest. Newberry outrebounded the Pioneers, 42-33, but gave up 21 turnovers.

Newberry returns home to host the Wingate University Bulldogs Saturday. Tipoff in Eleazer Arena is slated for 2 p.m. Tusculum hosts Brevard Saturday evening.