The Tusculum College Women's basketball team opens the 2013-14 season this Saturday at Chowan in the unfamiliar position of having to prove itself as a contender in the South Atlantic Conference.

The Pioneers have made five appearances in the conference tournament championship game in the last six years, winning titles in 2010 and 2011, and had a streak of five consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament come to an end last season.

Last year, the Pioneers set aside a sixth-place finish in the regular-season by making a dramatic run to the SAC title game before losing 55-52 to top-seeded Anderson. With all five starters from that team lost to graduation, second-year head coach Katrina Williams will look for her young squad to gel as the season progresses.

Tusculum finished 16-13 overall and 8-10 in the SAC last year, the first time since 2006-07 that the Pioneers finished under .500 in league play. The season was not without highlights, as the Pioneers earned road wins against fourth-ranked Rollins (69-55 on Nov. 23), defending Southeast Region champion Lander (81-55 on Dec. 1) and defending national champion Shaw (78-58 on Dec. 11).

In the SAC Tournament, the Pioneers needed overtime to dispatch Catawba 53-47 in the quarterfinals and Lenoir-Rhyne 59-51 in the semifinals, then played Anderson to a tie with under three minutes left before the Trojans hit free throws down the stretch for a three-point win in the championship game.

This year, the SAC coaches have picked the Pioneers to finish seventh in the annual preseason poll. The Pioneers will play 22 conference games this season with the addition of Coker and Queens (N.C.) to the league, creating a 12-team circuit. The top eight teams in the conference will qualify for the annual Food Lion SAC Tournament, which begins March 5 at campus sites before shifting to Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C. for the semifinals and finals on March 8-9.

The lone senior on the team, and the top returning scorer for the Pioneers, is 5-5 guard Nequoiah Anderson. The Washington, D.C. native set career highs in every offensive category last year, averaging 6.9 points and 2.7 rebounds per game in 15.2 minutes per game off the bench. Anderson was among the SAC leaders in three-point percentage for most of the season and finished the year at 37.5 percent (24-for-64). She reached double figures in points six times, including a career-best 20 points against Wingate on Feb. 9. In 72 career games, Anderson is averaging 3.9 points and 1.8 rebounds and has connected on 35 three-pointers.

Junior Blakeley Burleson enters her third year with the Pioneers looking to build upon a sophomore campaign that saw her average 4.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while playing 19.3 minutes per game off the bench. Burleson, a 5-6 guard from nearby Piney Flats, Tenn., had five double-figure games last year, tallying a career-best 15 points against Mars Hill on Feb. 23. Burleson was held without a field goal just four times in 29 games and had a career-high 11 rebounds in the SAC semifinal win over Lenoir-Rhyne. Burleson is averaging 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 53 career games entering this season.

The team's other returning players are sophomore forward Kristen McMillion and sophomore guard Shynese Whitener. McMillion, a 6-footer from Fayetteville, N.C. appeared in all 29 games last season off the bench and averaged 2.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Her average of 0.7 blocked shots per game were good for 10th in the SAC, and she had 10 games with seven rebounds or more including a season-high 11 at Catawba in the SAC quarterfinals. The 5-7 Whitener, out of Newton, N.C., saw action in 22 games and averaged 2.0 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, with a season high of seven points in her collegiate debut at Furman.

Among the newcomers, junior Brianna Mitchell is expected to make an immediate impact with the Pioneers. The 5-9 guard out of Harrisonburg, Va. comes to Tusculum from ASA College in New York City, where she averaged 7.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game as a starter for a squad that finished 25-4 and advanced to the NJCAA national tournament. Also joining the Pioneers as a transfer is 5-10 junior forward Bria Robinson from Bronx, N.Y. by way of Bowie State University.

A group of six freshmen players is led by a pair of local products in 5-9 guard Maelyn Cutshaw from South Greene High School and 5-5 guard Morgan Depew from Elizabethton High School. Also suiting up for the Pioneers this season are 5-10 forward Elise Coberly from Madison County High School in Comer, Ga., 5-10 forward Jessica Hairston from Courtland High School in Spotsylvania, Va., 6-foot forward Anjelique Hyatt from Austin East High School in Knoxville and 6-1 center Tayleah Neal out of Har-Ber High School in Springdale, Ark.

Following Saturday's season opener at Chowan, Tusculum plays its SAC opener just four days later at Carson-Newman on Wednesday, Nov. 20. The Pioneers make their home debut on Saturday, Nov. 23 against Wingate at Pioneer Arena.