INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament champion Austin College (23-4) earned its third bid into the 64-team NCAA Div. III Women’s Basketball Tournament, while Trinity (23-4) earned its 11th berth, receiving one of the 20 at-large bids into the championship field. This marks the first time since the 2008-09 season the SCAC will be represented by two teams in the national field. NCAA Release
For the first time in program history the Austin College ‘Roos raised the SCAC tournament title trophy after topping Trinity, 76-67, in the championship game on Sunday afternoon at the Stephens Family Arena on the campus of Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas.
All-Tournament honoree Kacie West had a team-high 20 points to lead the 'Roos and Tournament MVP Natalie McCoy came off the bench to add 16 points and six rebounds.
Austin College held Trinity, who sported the league's best field goal percentage coming into the game at 45.6 percent, to just 35.7 percent (25-70) from the field, including 12.9 percent (4-31) from three-point range - the team's lowest output of the season. Austin College shot 43.8 percent (21-48) from the field and 55.6 percent (10-18) from distance - their best performance of the season.
Austin College will travel to San Antonio, Texas for its NCAA opening-round contest against Mary Hardin-Baylor (24-4) on Friday, which earned an automatic qualifying bid as champions of the American Southwest Conference. This will be the second meeting between the ‘Roos and Cru this season, Austin College defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor, 70-61, in Sherman back on December 30th. Austin College will be making its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first since the 1998-99 season. The ‘Roos hold a 3-2 record all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with an appearance in the National Quarterfinals back in the 1997-98 season.
Trinity will host the opening weekend pod of the two SCAC and ASC school’s as they match up against UT-Dallas (22-5), which earned an at-large Pool C bid. Like the Austin College and UMHB matchup, the Tigers and the Comets have already met once this season with UTD coming out on top, 72-68, back on December 15th. This marks the 11th time the Tigers have advanced to the NCAA Tournament, with an overall record of 9-9. Trinity captured the NCAA Championship in 2003.
The winners of the Austin College/Mary Hardin-Baylor and Trinity/UT-Dallas contests will square off on Saturday at Calgaard Gymnasium in the William H. Bell Athletic Center on the campus of Trinity University. As a conference, the SCAC holds a 4-7 record against the American Southwest in NCAA Tournament history.
Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites March 13-14. Winners of the four sectional sites will advance to the national semifinals and final March 20-21. All games, except the semifinals/final, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The semifinals/final will be conducted at Capital Center Performance Arena on the campus of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by Capital University and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission.
