SUWANEE, Ga. - Facing a winner-take-all situation on Sunday, Colorado College's Alyssa Aldaz scored 14 points in her final home appearance to help CC defeat Millsaps College, 64-56, to claim the fourth seed from the West. Becky Luetjen finished with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds to move up to eighth place on Colorado College's all-time scoring list with 1,097 points and up to 12th place with 577 rebounds. The Tigers won all seven conference games at Reid Gymnasium this year.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College closed out its SCAC season with a pair of losses to Millsaps and Hendrix over the weekend, falling to 7-16 overall on the year. The 'Roos led Millsaps through much of the first half on Friday and led 28-27 at halftime, but the Majors took advantage of 10 offensive rebounds in the second half to hand the 'Roos a 58-54 loss. Erin Riley scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added seven boards as the only 'Roo in double figures. Riley led Austin College again on Sunday against Hendrix, when an 8:25 scoreless streak stretching from the end of the first half into the second period allowed the Warriors to go on a 22-0 run on their way to handing the 'Roos a 69-55 loss. Riley finished with 17 points and grabbed five boards and Kersti Marusich finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists in defeat. The 'Roos finish up their season on Tuesday when they play the University of Dallas in a make up game.
Birmingham-Southern capped off the season with a big home win against Centre College on Sunday, winning 84-81 in overtime. Senior Katelyn Wilson, playing her last game in a BSC uniform, led the team with 18 points and three assists. Junior Ashton Spurgin led the team in rebounding with 10, and posted a double-double with 13 points as well. Wilson and fellow senior Jamie Key were honored in a pregame ceremony on Sunday. The Panthers also fell to No. 11 DePauw on Friday night despite shooting a single-game program-record .595 from the field and .667 from three-point range. BSC ends the year at 15-10 overall and 10-6 in conference play, led by Wilson with 10.5 points a game and sophomore Alex Adams with 7.0 rebounds a game. Wilson ends her career ranked fifth in all-time scoring with 798 points as well as three-pointers with 109. She also ranks third in free throws made with 183.
Centre split a pair of road conference games to close out the 2010-11 regular season defeating Rhodes on Friday night 77-69 before falling to Birmingham-Southern 84-81 in overtime on Sunday. Maggie Prewitt led the Colonels notching 27 points in both contests. Centre, who finished the regular season with an 11-5 conference record, earned the number two seed out of the Eastern Division and will square off against three seed Southwestern University out of the West Friday at the SCAC Tournament. The Colonels will look to avenge their loss to the Pirates 77-73 earlier in the season.
Colorado College clinched its spot in the SCAC Tournament by defeating Hendrix and Millsaps in its final two games of the regular season. Becky Luetjen poured in 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 64-52 victory over Hendrix on Friday night. It was her seventh double-double of the season and the 10 time she has scored 20 or more points in a game this season. Luetjen also blocked four shots and dished out three assists to become the 15th player in program history to record 150 or more in a career. Jordy Stephenson scored nine of her 12 points during the second half, while Kalli Kemling added 11 points. Facing a winner-take-all situation on Sunday, Alyssa Aldaz scored 14 points in her final home appearance to help CC defeat Millsaps College, 64-56, to claim the fourth seed from the West. Sarah Gunkel scored all nine of her points during the second half when she also recorded five rebounds and three steals. Luetjen finished with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds to move up to 8th place on Colorado College's all-time scoring list with 1,097 points and up to 12th place with 577 rebounds. The Tigers won all seven conference games at Reid Gymnasium this year.
#11 DePauw extended its win streak to eight straight and collected its 17th win in the last 18 games with a 75-65 win at Birmingham-Southern and a 75-46 victory at Rhodes. At Birmingham-Southern, DePauw led by as many as six in the first half, but the hosts put together a 12-2 run to take a 32-28 advantage. DePauw scored the final four points of the half to knot the score at 32-32 at the intermission. The Tigers extended the lead to as many as seven in the opening six minutes of the second half before Birmingham-Southern trimmed it to one on a couple of occasions with the last coming with 10:05 left to cut DePauw's margin to 52-51. Lauren Goff responded with a three before Katie Aldrich completed a three-point play and Ali Ross scored a bucket to cap an 8-0 run and give the Tigers a 60-51 advantage with 6:53 remaining. The Panthers got as close as seven and DePauw led by as many as 14 the rest of the way. Mathews paced DePauw with 16 points, while Aldrich added 15 and Ross 10. Ellie Pearson led the Tigers with 11 rebounds as DePauw held a 26-24 edge on the boards. Goff added five steals. DePauw shot 51.7 percent including 58.6 percent in the second half, while the Panthers hit 59.5 percent overall and 64.7 percent in the second half. DePauw led Rhodes 11-10 with just over nine minutes left in the first half before going on a 16-3 run to grab a 14-point advantage. The Tigers went to the break with a 36-21 lead. Rhodes pulled to within 12 early in the second half, but the Tigers scored the next nine to take a 45-26 lead with 16 minutes remaining. That lead reached as many as 34 points in the final three minutes. Aldrich led the Tigers with 15 points followed by Goff with 14 and Pearson with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. DePauw shot 47.1 percent from the floor and knocked in 7-of-18 three-pointers, while Rhodes hit 32.0 percent from the floor. The Tigers also held a 40-22 edge on the boards.
Hendrix saw its eight-game win streak come to a halt on Friday night at Colorado College. The Warriors eight-game win streak was their longest since the 2006-07 season and their seven-game SCAC win streak was its longest since 1999-00 and tied for 3rd in program history. Hendrix got back to its winning ways with a big victory at Austin College on Sunday to close out the regular season. Hendrix and Colorado traded the lead four times in the first seven minutes before Colorado used a 15-4 run over a four minute span to grab the last lead change with 13:02 left in the first half, eventually taking the 64-52 decision at Reid Gymnasium. The Tigers owned a 31-22 lead at halftime after outscoring the Warriors 20-12 in the paint and 8-2 in points off turnovers. Hendrix would only come as close as seven points the rest of the way, eventually giving up an 18-point margin, 49-31, with 8:43 remaining in regulation. Hendrix junior Caty Hensy recorded her first double-double of the season in 28 minutes off the bench to help propel the Warriors to a 69-55 win over Austin on Sunday. Hendrix jumped out to an early advantage but a 15-3 run eventually put the Warriors behind, 19-9, with 11:52 left in the opening half. Hendrix chipped away at its 10-point deficit and senior Christina Byler's 3-pointer with 3:23 to go gave the Warriors the final lead change of the game. Hendrix finished the last six minutes of the half on a 13-0 run to lead 31-24 at halftime. The Warriors bridged intermission and extended the stretch to 21 unanswered points, 39-24, with 18:18 left in regulation. Austin responded and narrowed the gap to five points with 11:07 on the clock. Hendrix answered with an 11-1 spurt over the next five minutes to take back the commanding lead. The Warriors led by at least 12 points the rest of the way.
Millsaps came just short of returning to the SCAC Conference Tournament this past weekend falling to Colorado College Sunday afternoon 64-56. On Friday the Majors defeated Austin College 58-54 however with a CC Tigers win over Hendrix it set up for a winner advances game Sunday in Colorado Springs. Though the Majors fell just short, first-year head coach Chuck Winkelman guided the Majors to an incredible turn around winning 11 more games than a season ago closing out the regular season with a record of 12-13, 8-8 in SCAC play.
Oglethorpe concluded their regular season on Saturday nigh by topping Sewanee in Monteagle, 74-49. The Petrels nailed 52% of their first half shots to race out to a 41-22 halftime lead the Tigers would never challenge. The two teams traded baskets to a 10-10 tie in the early stages before Oglethorpe exploded for a 31-12 run to close the first half. The hot first half included the Petrels drilling 7 of 11 from beyond the arc to separate themselves from Sewanee. Sophomore Riley Cerone came off the bench in the opening stanza and went 3 of 3 from downtown to lead the attack. The Petrels went on to make 5 of 8 threes in the second half to finish the game an impressive 12 of 19 (63%) from long range. The Tigers, meanwhile, connected on only 6 of their 27 threes (22%) as the Petrels easily prevailed. Sophomore Sarah Giles led 5 Petrels in double figures with 17 points and 8 rebounds on the night. Cerone made 4 of 6 three's for 14 points, Sarah Jones tallied 13, Kelley Reeves posted 11 and Ky'Laine Rogers notched 10 in the dominating victory. The Petrels finish the regular season 6-18 and will head to Jackson, Miss. for the SCAC Tournament next weekend as the No. 4 seed from the West. Oglethorpe will face Hendrix College in the opening round at 1:00 p.m. on Friday.
Rhodes qualified for their 8th SCAC tournament bid in 9 years, earning the 3 seed in the East Division and will play Trinity (TX) in their opening game on Friday, February 25th in Jackson, MS at 8 pm on the campus of Millsaps College. Trinity defeated Rhodes 77-66 in their only meeting during the regular season, on January 28th in Mallory Gymnasium. "We very excited about having the opportunity to compete for a conference championship in Jackson, MS," said Lynx Head Coach Matt Dean. "After opening the season 1-7 and 0-3 in SCAC play, this group has battled and put themselves in a position to return to the SCAC Tournament. That is always our first goal and I'm very proud of this team." The Lynx women have an all-time record of 4-7 in SCAC Tournament play and have advanced to four semifinal games in the tournament's eight-year history.
Sewanee closed out the 2010-2011 season with a 74-49 SCAC loss to visiting Oglethorpe University. The Tigers managed to stay close with the Stormy Petrels for much of the first half, but Oglethorpe used a 21-5 run spanning five minutes to close out the first frame. The Petrels never looked back on their way to the win. Elliott led Sewanee with 15 points and three assists, while Middleton chipped in 14 points and Ginsburg added 10. Ginsburg led the Tigers with eight rebounds and three steals. As a team, Sewanee went 14 of 53 from the field (26.4%) and just 6 of 27 from the 3-point line (22.2%). The Tigers hit 15 of 20 free throws. Oglethorpe ended the game 28 of 60 from the field (46.7%), 12 of 19 from the 3-point line (63.2%), and a perfect 6 of 6 from the free throw line. The Petrels held a 42-30 edge in rebounding. Sewanee turned the ball over 17 times to the Petrels 20. Sewanee finishes the year with a 2-23 overall record and an 0-16 conference record.
The Pirates fell at Trinity on Friday night, closing out the regular season with a 16-9 overall record and 8-8 in the conference. Turnovers cost Southwestern immensely throughout the game as they committed 32 turnovers, but were +10 in rebounds to soften the blow. The 80-72 loss put Trinity in second place in the West and left Southwestern to wait and see where what seed they would be in the Conference Tournament after the rest of the West played on Sunday. After everything shook out SU landed in third place and will face #2 seed Centre in the opening round of the tournament on Friday in Jackson, Mississippi.
Trinity secured a spot in the SCAC Tournament with a win over Southwestern on Friday night, then finished off the regular season with a narrow win over the University of Dallas. The Tigers led virtually the entire game, but despite pulling ahead by as many as 16 points in the second half, Southwestern fought to the end, getting to within six with just over three minutes to play. Trinity held on, though, securing the West Division's No. 2 seed in the tournament. Against Dallas on Saturday night, Trinity had to mount a late comeback to erase a 10-point deficit in the final five minutes. Trailing 54-44 after a Dallas three-pointer, the Tigers scored 15 unanswered points to go up by five with 24 seconds to play. Dallas finally scored, but it wasn't enough in the end. Trinity will face Rhodes College in the opening round of the tournament on Friday. The Tigers lost to Centre in the opening game last season – just the second time Trinity had lost its first game of the tournament. The first actually came against Rhodes in 2007. The Tigers and the Lynx have met three times in the SCAC Tournament, with Trinity winning twice. Aside from the 2007 game mentioned above, Trinity defeated Rhodes in both 2004 and 2009.
To view the entire SCAC Hoops Weekly for week twelve, click here.
