SUWANEE, Ga. - The 14th-ranked DePauw University women topped Sewanee-The University of the South, 87-41, in Sunday afternoon SCAC action at Neal Fieldhouse. The victory was the 400th of head coach Kris Huffman's 18-year career in Greencastle.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College dropped a pair
of games to SCAC rivals Southwestern University and Trinity
University over the weekend, bringing the team to 7-14 overall and
5-9 in conference play this season. With these two losses, the
‘Roos have now dropped five straight. The ‘Roos started
the weekend with a hardfought 75-71 loss at Southwestern on Friday
with Kersti Marusich pouring in a team-best 22 points in the loss.
Marusich knocked down 3-of-6 threes and added five boards for the
‘Roos while Erica McDaniel chipped in with 10 points and
eight boards. Austin College closed out the weekend with a 74-62
loss to Trinity in San Antonio, with Erin Riley leading four
players in double figures with 18 points and four boards. Shayna
Clardy and Brooke Melton each added 12 points and Marusich chipped
in with 10 and five boards. The ‘Roos are home this weekend
for their final two SCAC games of the regular season against
Millsaps and Hendrix.
Birmingham-Southern played one game this week, traveling
to Rhodes, and lost 75-71. Sophomore Alex Adams led with 18 points,
and junior Kristian Moody led with six rebounds. The Panthers are
at home this weekend, wrapping up the season with games against
DePauw, Friday night, and Centre, Sunday. Sunday will be senior day
for Jamie Key and Katelyn Wilson.
With a pair of SCAC home wins over Sewanee and Oglethorpe,
Centre upped its record to 16-7 overall and 10-4
in the SCAC. The Colonels’ 78-63 win over Sewanee marks the
sixth straight victory over the Tigers. Centre then jumped out to a
quick start en-route to a 74-46 win over the Stormy Petrels
limiting Oglethorpe to only 27.8% shooting, the second lowest
against the Colonels this year. On the other side, Centre has now
shot 43.0% or better in five straight games, going 4-1 over that
span. The Colonels will wrap up the regular season on the road this
week with contests against Rhodes and Birmingham
Southern.
Colorado College finds itself in a
must-win situation in the race for a berth in the conference
tournament after dropping a pair of games in Texas last weekend.
The Tigers literally threw away a chance to solidify its position
by committing a season-high 35 during an 85-47 loss at Trinity on
Friday. Alyssa Aldaz scored four points to help CC grab an early
10-3 lead, but 21 first-half turnovers led to 20 points for TU, and
any thoughts of a comeback were quickly dashed when Colorado
College scored only four points during the opening seven minutes of
the second half. Becky Luetjen paced the Colorado College with 11
points, while Aldaz finished with 10. The Tigers overcame a
12-point second-half deficit, but could not hold on to five-point
lead in the final minutes of regulation and dropped a 92-89
decision in overtime at Southwestern on Sunday. Luetjen forced the
extra session when she scored with two seconds remaining, but was
unable to connect on a desperation three-pointer as time expired to
force a second overtime. Luetjen posted her sixth double-double of
the season, finishing with a career-high 31 points and 17 rebounds.
She also had a game-high five steals. Sarah Gunkel recorded the
first double-double of her career with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Colorado College still can earn a spot in the SCAC tournament with
victories over Western Division leader Hendrix College and Millsaps
College this Friday and Sunday, respectively.
#14 DePauw improved to 20-3 overall and 13-1
with a weekend sweep of Oglethorpe (86-57) and Sewanee (87-41). In
the win over Oglethorpe, the Tigers placed five players in
double-digit scoring led by Katie Aldrich with 18 points. Lauren
Goff added 16 followed by Katie Mathews, Alex Gasaway and Ali Ross
with 10 each. Aldrich grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, while
Mathews and Kathryn Denbow each dished out five assists. The Stormy
Petrels took a 13-12 lead with 13:22 left in the first half, but
DePauw’s Lauren Goff answered with a three-pointer that
started a 10-0 Tigers run. DePauw went to the intermission with a
41-25 lead as they closed the period with a 13-2 run. DePauw
extended its lead early in the second half after scoring the first
eight points before Katie Aldrich scored seven points on three
consecutive trips down the floor to give DePauw a 57-29 advantage
with 14:37 remaining. Oglethorpe shot 47.9 percent from the field
to DePauw's 47.4 percent, but DePauw held a 42-28 advantage on the
boards and scored 30 second-chance points to the Stormy Petrels' 8.
The Tigers completed the weekend sweep with Sunday's win over
Sewanee as Kris Huffman collected her 400th career win against just
99 losses. DePauw scored the game's first eight points and went to
the break with a 42-23 lead. The Tigers put the game away as they
opened the second half with a 21-4 run to extend their lead to
63-27. Mathews led all scorers with 18 points and grabbed a
career-high 12 rebounds. Gasaway followed with a double-double of
15 points and 10 rebounds and Ellie Pearson added 13 points. Goff
matched a career-high with six assists in the win. DePauw shot 48.6
percent from the floor to Sewanee's 26.8 percent and the Tigers
held a 52-23 edge on the boards while committing just 12 turnovers.
The victory also extended DePauw's record streak of SCAC home wins
to 63. The record is retired as the Tigers join the North Coast
Athletic Conference next season. DePauw also claimed its 10th
straight 20-win season and 14th in the last 15 seasons.
Hendrix clinched its second consecutive SCAC Western
Division Title after a 59-55 victory over Millsaps College on
Saturday afternoon on Senior Day. Hendrix senior Wyvonne
Hawkins highlighted her Senior Day performance with a go-ahead
basket with 44 seconds left. Hawkins poured in 22 points and
grabbed nine rebounds to lead Hendrix to its eighth-straight win
(longest since 2006-07) and seventh-consecutive SCAC victory
(longest since 1999-00/T-3rd in school history). She was
8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
Hendrix owned the lead for the first 32 minutes but never led by
more than 10 points and Millsaps used an 8-0 run over a four minute
span to take its first lead of the game with 7:33 left in
regulation. Hendrix went ice cold from the field and did not
make a field goal from the 11:33 mark until first year Jamie Tate
scored a layup with 1:21 to go. The Warriors went 4-for-4
from the line during that span, however, the Majors managed to
score just 13 points and owned a 55-53 advantage after the cold
streak was over. At one point during the stretch, neither
team scored a point for four minutes. Tate was fouled on her
clutch layup and she knocked down the free throw to make it a
one-point ballgame. Millsaps missed a jumper on the next
possession and Hawkins made it hurt with the game-winning layup on
the Warriors’ next trip down the court. She cut across
the lane and took a pass from junior Katy Ashley-Pauley on the
block, then elevated through two defenders to score the
basket. University of Dallas would not go away and the
Crusaders nearly completed the come-back effort, but a pair of free
throws from junior Anna Roane with seven seconds left was just
enough to give Hendrix a 75-74 win on Tuesday night at Grove
Gymnasium. Dallas scratched and clawed its way back into the
game despite a seven-point deficit with 42 seconds left in
regulation. Roane’s free throws gave Hendrix a 75-71
lead and Crusaders’ first year Christy Allen knocked down a
3-pointer as time expired to reach the final mark. The
Warriors led the entire way, but the Crusaders always seemed to
have an answer for all of Hendrix’s runs. The
Warriors’ largest lead of the first half was 10 points, 17-7,
with 11:18 to go. Hendrix eventually took a 36-28 advantage
at intermission.
Millsaps split a pair of games this week, but couldn't
help untagle the West Division standings after falling 59-55 at
Hendrix on Saturday. The Majors and Warriors were tied at 50 with
3:50 remaining in the game. Hendrix hit the front end of a set of
free throws to tie the score and then took the one-point edge on
the second, but Lovie Love answered with a jumper to put Millsaps
back up one. Three Warrior turnovers gave the Majors the chance to
take control over the next minute, but all they could muster was a
jumper from Sarah Zito and a Lovie Love free throw to go up four,
55-51, with 1:52 left to play. Unfortunately, the Majors did not
score again as the Warriors went on an 8-0 run to close the game,
59-55. The week was not a total loss, however, as the Majors got
the 80-52 win over Convenant College in the regular season home
finale on Tuesday night. The Majors will end the regular season on
the road this weekend as they travel over to Austin College on
Friday before wrapping up at Colorado College on
Sunday.
Oglethorpe fell at DePauw (L, 86-57) and Centre (L, 74-46)
this past weekend. On Friday the 14th ranked Tigers were simply too
much for the Petrels to overcome on the road. On Sunday, the
Petrels fell behind by 20 points in the first half and could not
catch up with a dismal 1 of 18 shooting performance (6%) from
beyond the arc. Overall, the Petrels were 20 of 72 (28%) from the
field and got outrebounded by the Colonels 53-38 en route to the
loss. Sarah Giles was the lone Petrel in double figures with 12
points 8 rebounds and 4 blocks on the afternoon. Oglethorpe is now
5-18 on the season and 4-11 in SCAC play. The regular season will
conclude on Saturday when the Petrels take on Sewanee in Tennessee.
After that, it's off to Jackson for the SCAC Tournament.
Junior forward Sharwil Bell broke a 69-69 tie with 1:02 to play,
connecting on a 15 foot jump shot that gave Rhodes
the lead for good, as the Lynx held on for a 75-71 SCAC win in
Mallory Gymnasium on February 12th. Senior guard Lakeya
McGill sealed the win hitting four clutch free throw in the last 30
seconds of play. Bell led all scorers with 30 points and sophomore
guard Sarah Womack scored a season high 20 points as she connected
on a season high 6 three point field goals. Freshman center Amy
Handelman recorded a double double, scoring 11 points and she also
grabbed 13 rebounds. The Lynx won their fourth consecutive SCAC
game and improve to 9-13 overall and 6-8 in the SCAC.
Sewanee ended the road portion of their schedule this
weekend, traveling to Centre College on Friday and DePauw
University on Sunday for a pair of SCAC contests. The Tigers
struggled to gain momentum in both contests and eventually fell to
the Colonels, 78-63, to start the weekend and dropped an 87-41
decision to DePauw to end it. Against Centre, Dana Middleton poured
in 18 points and five assists for the visitors, but it wasn’t
enough, as the Colonels walked away with the win. Claire Elliott
added 14 points and Logan Miller chipped in 12 in the decision. On
Sunday, DePauw was simply too much for the Tigers, as the Indiana
Tigers shot nearly 50% from the field on their way to a 46-point
victory. Middleton again led the Tigers with 13 points, nine of
which came from the charity stripe. Dee Bradford, Elliott and
Miller all finished with seven points. The Tigers wrap up their
regular season on Saturday when they play host to Oglethorpe in an
SCAC contest. Tip off is set for 4 p.m.
With three games to play and the West side of the conference
locked up the Pirates hosted Austin College and Colorado College
for their final home weekend of the season. Friday night featured
Southwestern in their annual WBCA PinkZone night
as the game went down to the wire. Shae Seagraves' three pointer
with 20 seconds to play gave SU a three point lead and their
defense and free throw shooting closed out the 75-71 win. Sunday
marked the final home game for two seniors, Seagraves and Staley
Mullin,s and both would have great nights to boost the Pirates to
an overtime win. A three pointer, steal and layup by Chelsea Leeder
gave Southwestern a one point lead with 47 seconds left in
regulation, but Colorado's Luetjen made a layup after an SU free
throw to tie the game and send it into overtime. The Pirates scored
first in overtime and were able to maintain a slight advantage to
secure the 92-89 win. With the wins Southwestern improves to 16-8
on the year and 8-7 in the SCAC. They are tied for second place
with Trinity, whom they face on Friday night at 6:00 in San
Antonio.
With SCAC Tournament hopes on the line, Trinity
swept a home weekend in SCAC play, defeating both Colorado College
and Austin College. Trinity won 85-47 over Colorado College to move
ahead of Colorado in the standings on Friday, then held off Austin
College in a 74-62 win on Sunday afternoon. Trinity had lost to
both teams on the road earlier this season. Danielle Hubenak moved
up to sixth in Trinity history for career points, scoring a total
of 42 points over the weekend. Hubenak is already Trinity’s
all-time leader assists and three-pointers made for a career.
Trinity will host Southwestern and Dallas in the final games of the
regular season this weekend. With a win over Southwestern on
Friday, the Tigers would earn a spot in the conference
tournament.
To view the entire SCAC Hoops Weekly for week
twelve, click here.
