SUWANEE, Ga. - It was a tough conference weekend for teams on the road as homes teams held serve in eight of nine SCAC contests. Centre and Colorado College remained the lone unbeaten team in conference play and sit atop the Eastern and Western Divisions respectively.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College had a tough
week last week, dropping three games to Fontbonne, Southwestern and
Trinity to fall to 1-9 overall and 1-2 in SCAC play on the year.
Against Fontbonne, the ‘Roos committed only six turnovers in
the game but were outrebounded 47-24 on their way to a 78-73 loss
despite 20 points from Angeleena Young and 17 from Christina Kime,
who added four assists. The ‘Roos fell 61-52 to Southwestern
on Friday with Kime scoring 16 and adding five assists and finished
the weekend with a 79-53 loss at Trinity. Allison Taylor scored 11
and had nine boards to lead the ‘Roos.
Birmingham-Southern dropped two conference games this
weekend on the road, losing to Centre on Friday, 64-50, and Sewanee
on Sunday, 45-33. Against Centre, junior Alex Adams led BSC with 17
points, shooting 7-of-10 from the field, followed by junior
Caroline King with 14 points and a team-high six rebounds. Against
Sewanee, senior Kristian Moody led BSC with 13 points, while Adams
led on the boards with 10 rebounds. BSC takes a break for the
holidays before returning to action in the Huntingdon College
Classic, Dec. 29-30, facing Blackburn College and Meredith College
in Montgomery, Ala.
Centre had two games this week after taking off
last week because of Finals. They played twice and came away with
wins in both games against Birmingham Southern and Oglethorpe.
Against BSC on Friday, Centre clamped down on defense, took an
early lead and never let up, using a 12-0 run early in the second
half to effectively put the game out of reach. It was fairly smooth
sailing for the Colonels for the rest of the second half as they
won 64-50. Maggie Prewitt had 16 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and
4 steals in the winning effort while Paige Baechle recorded 13
points and 8 rebounds. On Sunday afternoon against Oglethorpe, the
Colonels fell behind early and couldn’t sustain a run as the
Petrels went up by 12 halfway through the second half. But led by
Maggie Prewitt, Chelsea Benham and Lauren Huter, Centre stormed
back, forcing turnovers, converting at the free throw line and
hitting clutch shots. Benham gave the Colonels the lead with a
three-point play and Alyson Burke hit a huge three with a minute to
go to help propel Centre to a 77-71 win. Prewitt scored a season
high 33 points, while Benham scored 14 and Huter added
12.
Colorado College improved to 6-5 on the
season after sweeping both games last week against Johnson and
Wales University and Hendrix College. In the Tigers 71-66 victory
over Johnson and Wales, CC shot 45.8 percent on the floor and
grabbed 48 rebounds for its second highest marks of the season.
Colorado College finished the week shooting a season-high 49.0
percent from the floor in its 66-64 win over Hendrix to go 3-0 in
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Despite shooting over
40 percent from the floor during the week, the Tigers struggled
from long range, only hitting 1-of-9 from behind the arc in each
game. Senior Becky Luetjen led the team averaging 15 points and 8.5
rebounds a game during the week. Freshman Shelby Hansen and senior
Jordy Stephenson both averaged 14 points a game over two games. The
Tigers will return to action on Jan. 2 when they host Berry College
at 6 p.m. in Reid Gymnasium.
Dallas (1-5, 0-3 SCAC) went 0-2 on the week, in a pair of
SCAC contests. Dallas traveled to San Antonio on Friday to square
off with Trinity University that evening. The Lady Crusaders
trailed by a manageable six points at halftime, but Trinity turned
it on in the second half, outscoring Dallas 45-25 in the final
period. When the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Tigers had won,
81-53. Two entered double-figure scoring for Dallas in the loss --
junior guard Kylie Yoshimura (12 points) and freshman guard
Marleyna Bustamante (11 points). On Saturday, the Lady Crusaders
headed to Georgetown, Texas, to battle Southwestern University.
Trailing by just three points at halftime to the Lady Pirates,
Dallas was in contention to net the road victory. Dallas, however,
shot 31.6 percent (12-of-38) in the second half, as opposed to to
Southwestern's 43.6 percent (17-of-39) from the field. The Lady
Crusaders were outscored 43-32 in the final period, en route to a
81-67 defeat. In the loss, sophomore post Christy Allen and
freshman guard Brooke Hagemann shined for Dallas, as each finished
with a double-double. Allen had 19 points and 14 rebounds (five
offensive), while Hagemann totaled 13 points and 15 rebounds (five
offensive). This week, Dallas will face only Howard Payne
University. A home game for the Lady Crusaders, the two teams will
play at the Maher Athletic Center at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
Hendrix lost to Colorado College 66-64 at home on
Saturday. Sophomore forward Jamie Tate led the Warriors with her
fourth consecutive double-double with 15 points and 11 boards. The
Nashville, Tenn. native also recorded a career-best six steals.
Senior guard Katy Ashley-Pauley and senior Avery Roller added 12
points each. Sophomore forward Katie Cougrhran came off the bench
to score a career-high eight points. Hendrix will be off until Dec.
29 when they travel to Georgia to face LaGrange College.
Millsaps had a stellar week as they went 3-0 to up their
record to 7-2. The Majors started the week at home against Rust
College last Monday afternoon as they forced 19 turnovers thanks to
a lethal defensive effort in a 55-46 win. Junior Shante Morton
continued her dominance with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The Majors
then began a nine game road trip with Covenant College on Thursday
and went on to run away from the Scots in the second half to win
57-38. Morton continued to play at a high level as she picked up
her seventh straight double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Senior Janice Okeke played one of her best games since returning
into the lineup after injury as she went for 12 points, nine
rebounds, three blocks, an assist, and a steal. Freshman Velvet
Johnson added 11 points and led the way with three assists. The
Majors finished things up with a tough road game at a very good
LaGrange team. Millsaps picked up their fourth straight win thanks
to an excellent second half effort where they outscored the
Panthers 38-27 en route to a 71-62 win on Friday night. The win
improved the Majors record to 7-2, their best start since 2002-03.
Johnson led all scorers with 18 points and added six rebounds. The
Majors premier post players played at an extremely high level again
on Friday as Morton picked up her eighth straight double-double
with 14 points and 14 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots
while Okeke added her first double-double of the season with 13
points and 12 rebounds. White also had a nice night with six
points, four assists, and three steals. Millsaps takes a week off
with the Christmas Holidays approaching. They return to action on
December 29th as they travel to Montgomery, Alabama to participate
in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Huntingdon College. They will
play the home standing Hawks at 5:00 p.m. The two teams met earlier
in the year in Jackson with Millsaps pulling out a thrilling
contest, 72-66.
Oglethorpe lost two road SCAC contests this past weekend,
falling at Sewanee (L, 66-63) and Centre (L, 71-65). Against
Sewanee, The Petrels raced out to an 11 point halftime lead and led
the Tigers for most of the contest before a three-ball with 12
seconds remaining turned a 2-point Petrel advantage into a 1-point
deficit and sealed Oglethorpe's fate. After shooting 44.4% from the
field in the first half, including going 6-of-9 from downtown, the
Petrels shooting touch betrayed them in the second stanza. Riley
Cerone connected on 5-of-10 treys to pace Oglethorpe with 15
points, 5 assists and four rebounds. Much like their defeat on
Friday, the Petrels led for most of the contest against Centre on
Sunday, including 52-40 with 11:22 to play, but could not nail down
the road SCAC win as the Colonels rallied to steal the victory.
Oglethorpe made 9-of-17 (53%) three-pointers in the contest but
really hurt themselves at the free throw line where they only
converted 14-of-26 (54%). Mareva Bone led the Petrels with 19
points and 11 rebounds. Sarah Jones tallied 16 and Katie Weeks made
3-of-4 from downtown for 11 points. Cerone chipped in 10 in the
loss. Oglethorpe is now 3-7 (0-3) on the season and will next face
Mississippi College in Montgomery, Ala. in the Coaches vs. Cancer
Classic on December 29.
Senior forward Sharwil Bell scored a game high 25 points to lead Rhodes to a 52-50 win over Berry College on December 16th in Mallory Gymnasium. Rhodes led 28-19 at halftime; however, Berry rallied behind their sophomore post player Megan Walsh, who scored 17 points and pulled down a game high 18 rebounds. Rhodes led 49-44 with 1:57 to play when Berry used a 4-0 run to cut the margin to 49-48 with 1:27 to play. Walsh blocked a Bell layup that led to a transition three point field goal by Berry senior guard Brittany Coughlan. Bell hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds to play to extend the Lynx lead to 2 points and freshman guard Sarah Johnson stole a Berry pass on their last possession to secure the Rhodes win. Johnson added 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assist and had 4 steals. Bell and sophomore post player Amy Handelman each had 8 rebounds. The Lynx improve to 5-3 on the season and will return to action on December 29th when they face Meredith (NC) at 9 am in the first round of the Coaches versus Cancer Classic on the campus of Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Al.
After taking a week off for final exams, the Tigers stormed back
with a pair of SCAC victories over the weekend. First against
Oglethorpe on Friday night, Sewanee showed its
character by coming from behind for a 66-63 win over theStormy
Petrels. In that game, the Tigers used an 11-0 run to fuel their
comeback. Oglethorpe led 63-61 with 12 seconds remaining when
junior Heather Baier hit a three pointer to give the Tigers the
lead. On the Stormy Petrels’ next possession freshman Kayla
Sewell blocked Ky’Laine Rogers layup giving the ball back to
Sewanee. From there, junior Dana Middleton sealed the game with a
pair of free throws. In Sunday's 45-33 victory over
Birmingham-Southern, the Tigers switched gears and turned to their
defense. After the Panthers pulled to within five with 9:56 left,
the Tigers' defense clamped down. Over the remaining time, Sewanee
limited BSC to four points. In fact, the Panthers remained
scoreless for the next nine minutes. As a team, Sewanee held BSC to
a 19 percent field goal percentage. The Panthers also committed a
season-high 17 turnovers. Middleton led the Tigers with a game-high
19 points. Defensively, freshman Kayla Sewell was a force inside
the paint. Sewell grabbed 11 defensive rebounds en route to her 13
total boards. Sewell also finished the game with six blocks and
four steals. Overall, Sewanee enters the Holiday break with three
straight wins.
After a pair of SCAC wins the Pirates improve to 6-4 on the year
and 3-1 in the SCAC. Friday night Southwestern
fended off an attempted comeback by Austin College after leading by
as many as 18 points in the second half. Austin College quietly
pulled within seven points with just over a minute to play, but SU
closed out the game from the free throw line to secure the 61-52
win. It was a track meet on Saturday night as the Pirates faced the
University of Dallas. UD started off quick in both halves, but a
steady defensive presence and a pair of big runs in the second half
allowed the Pirates to forge ahead to the 81-67 final. Chelsea
Leeder led the way in both games while Jordan Owens posted a
double-double in each contest. Southwestern has a much needed break
heading into the holidays. They return to the court on December
28th and 29th as they host the annual Southwestern Holiday
Classic.
Trinity improved to 3-6 this season with a pair of SCAC
wins over the University of Dallas and Austin College over the
weekend. The Tigers are now 2-2 in conference play. On Friday,
Trinity snapped a five-game losing streak with an 81-53 win over
Dallas, then enjoyed an equally impressive 79-53 win over Austin
College the next night. The two games were the most points scored
by the Tigers in a game this season. Trinity will be off this week
for the holidays, but will return to action on December 28 and 29
in the Southwestern Tournament in Georgetown, Texas. The Tigers
will face UW-Eau Claire and Wheaton (IL) in tournament play.
Trinity will return home on December 31, in a New Year’s Eve
matchup with Mary Hardin-Baylor.
To view the entire SCAC Hoops Weekly for week five, click here.