SUWANEE, Ga. - DePauw remained the lone team undefeated in conference play as we head into 2011 after picking up a 77-57 win at home over Centre this past Sunday. The DU Tigers have now won five straight games and are the only SCAC team ranked in the top 25 nationally. 

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College split its games with Southwestern and Trinity over the weekend, fighting hard but falling late to Southwestern 79-68 on Friday before surviving an 87-76 double overtime battle with Trinity on Sunday. The ‘Roos are now 4-6 overall and 2-2 in SCAC play on the year. The ‘Roos took a 32-32 tie into halftime against Southwestern before the Pirates pulled away in the games final minutes for the 11 point victory despite 21 points from Kersti Marusich and 16 from Shayna Clardy. Against Trinity, the ‘Roos got hot from the three point arc in the second overtime to put the Tigers away with Erin Riley hitting back to back treys and Clardy adding another three. Marusich scored 27 in the game while Riley scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half and the two overtime periods and added 10 rebounds, and Clardy finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Birmingham-Southern won three games over the holiday break, defeating LeTourneau University on the road in Longview, Texas, and returning home to pick up two big conference wins over Sewanee and Oglethorpe this past weekend. BSC is now 8-4 on the season, led by senior Katelyn Wilson averaging 10 points a game, sophomore Alex Adams with 7.9 rebounds a game, and junior Kristian Moody with 2.8 assists per game. The Panthers travel to face Berry College this Wednesday in Mount Berry, Ga., and then are at home again on Saturday against Rhodes in a 3 p.m. tip-off.

Centre dropped a pair of road games to ranked opponents to fall to 7-5 overall and 1-2 in the SCAC. The Colonels fell 66-60 to  No. 5 Thomas More Thursday and then dropped a 77-57 contest to No. 11 DePauw Sunday. Centre struggled with its shooting making only 40 of its 122 attempts (32.7) from the floor in the two games combined, while both opponents finish over 40% in each game. Centre will play two road games this week against Sewanee and Oglethorpe.

Colorado College evened its conference record and won for the fourth time in five games with victories over Trinity and Southwestern. Kalli Kemling scored 17 of her 20 points in the second half to lead the Tigers to a 76-66 victory over Trinity University on New Year's Eve. Kemling made all three of her three-point baskets during the second frame, including the last one which put CC up 65-55 with 3:57 to go after TU had cut its deficit to just four points with 5:09 remaining. Becky Luetjen finished with a game-high 26 points, the fourth time she has scored 20 or more points in a game this season. Luetjen also had a team-high nine rebounds and dished out a game-high five assists. Marissa Gradoz hit all six of her free throws and finished with 10 points, the second time this season she scored in double figures. In Sunday's 80-69 victory over Southwestern, Luetjen scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the second half. Despite being limited to just 19 minutes because of foul trouble, Kemling finished with 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Gradoz reached double figures for the second game in a row and the third time this season with 10 points. Wattman-Turner dished out a season-high five assists to go along with eight points and six rebounds. The Tigers knocked down a season-high 10 shots from behind the arc, including eight in the first half. Colorado College begins a run of four consecutive road contests next Saturday at travel partner Austin College, and then visits the University of Dallas on Sunday.

#11 DePauw picked up four wins to improve to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play. The Tigers opened with an 84-58 win at Alma before capturing the Amy Hasbrook Memorial Tournament with a 60-33 victory over Rose-Hulman and an 85-47 win against John Carroll. DePauw returned to SCAC play with a 77-57 win over Centre. In the four games, the Tigers outscored the opposition by a 76.5-48.8 margin and outrebounded them 44.2-26.5, DePauw shot 45.7 percent during the stretch and held opponents to just 35.9 percent. Lauren Goff led with 12.8 points per game and hit 15-of-29 three-pointers and earned tournament MVP honors. Ellie Pearson led the Tigers with 8.3 rebounds and Kate Walker with 5.0 assists. In the win over Centre, Katie Aldrich match a career high with 23 points and Kate Walker established a career best with 16 points. The win was DePauw's 57th straight SCAC home victory.

Hendrix and Millsaps College played through 14 lead changes and eight ties with the Warriors coming out on top, suffered a pair of road losses over the week, falling below .500 at 5-6 on the season.  The Warriors dropped a 70-43 contest at Mississippi College on Thursday, and then suffered a 59-47 defeat at University of Dallas on Sunday afternoon.  Mississippi had four players in double figures and held Hendrix to just 26.2 percent from the field to earn its 11th consecutive victory.  Hendrix trailed by just eight points at the break, 31-23, but Mississippi broke away in the second half by outscoring the Warriors 27-9 during the first 10 minutes after intermission.  The Lady Choctaws eventually led by a game-high 29 points (64-35) with 6:15 remaining.  Junior Samantha Devlin was the only Warrior in double figures with a season-high 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.  Hendrix’s offensive struggles continued in its loss to Dallas.  The Warriors shot under 28 percent from the field for the second consecutive game and have shot under 30 percent in three of their last four contests.  Hendrix jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes, however, Dallas answered with a 16-2 run to earn the only lead change it would need. The Crusaders led the rest of the way and would take a 26-22 advantage into the break.  Juniors Katy Ashley-Pauley and Caty Hensy led Hendrix with 10 points apiece.

Millsaps lost its third straight contest against Warner University 75-71 in their lone game over the holiday break. The Majors will return to action this weekend as Millsaps travels to conference foes Trinity and Southwestern.

Oglethorpe dropped three of four contests over the holiday break. The Petrels lone win came on the road against Rhodes 81-74. Kelly Reeves paced Oglethorpe in the win with 16 points, six assists and three rebounds. The Petrels will return to action this weekend hosting a pair of conference contests against DePauw on Friday before Centre rolls into Atlanta to square off against the Petrels on Sunday.

Rhodes shot a season high 55% from the field en route to a 85-66 win over the University of the South on January 2nd in Mallory Gymnasium. Junior Sharwil Bell led all Lynx scorers with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Guards Sarah Womack and Jaime Maxey scored 20 points apiece as the Lynx won their first SCAC game of the 2011 season. Rhodes led 53-43 at the half as both teams were hot from beyond the three point arc. Tigers guard Logan Miller scored 18 first half points and made a torrid 7 of 10 point three field goal attempts for the game. Sewanee connected on 15 of 39 three point attempts for the game. Freshman center Amy Handelman chipped in 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds as the Lynx improve to 3-8 on the season, and 1-3 in the SCAC. Rhodes will travel to Birmingham Southern this upcoming Saturday to face the Panthers.

Sewanee dropped two conference contests over the weekend, falling to Birmingham-Southern College, 90-48, and Rhodes College, 85-66. Junior Claire Elliott led the Tigers with a game-high 17 points on a 6 of 7 shooting from the field. Logan Miller added eight points, while Dani Kabbes contributed eight rebounds and three blocks. As a team, the Tigers shot 30.2% from the field and 20.6% from the 3-point line. The Panthers held the edge in rebounding, 56-36. On Sunday, the Tigers fell to Rhodes despite double-digit scoring efforts from three different Tigers. Miller poured in 24 points in the effort, while Kabbes pulled down a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Paige Lowe also added 14 points in the contest. Sewanee falls to 2-8 overall and 0-3 in conference play. The Tigers will host Centre and DePauw in conference play this weekend.

Southwestern went 2-1 this week, suffering their first conference loss of the season on Sunday afternoon, and move to 10-2 on the year, 2-1 in the SCAC. Wednesday Southwestern hosted Worcester State University and used two 9-0 runs to start the halves en route to a 65-51 victory. The Pirates led by as many as 14 points in the first half and 16 points in the second half, never allowing the Lancers within striking distance. An early first half lead at Austin College didn't last as the two teams went into halftime tied, but SU turned on the afterburners and left the 'Roos in the dust after Anna Fareed's three pointer to open the second half. Southwestern committed just five turnovers in the contest as they defeated Austin College 79-68. On Sunday afternoon it was Colorado College that poured it on early, mounting a 16 point lead over Southwestern with 6:38 remaining in the first half. The Pirates closed the half on a 18-6 run and went into halftime down by just four points. SU led briefly in the second half but once the Tigers regained the lead they never lost it, going 4-5 from the field and 7-9 from the free throw line in the final five minutes of the game to win 80-69. Southwestern hosts Hendrix and Millsaps this weekend to continue SCAC action.

Trinity was 1-3 over the past week, starting with a win in the team’s home opener, but ending with three straight losses – including two conference defeats on the road. After beating East Texas Baptist 66-62 to open up the Trinity Christmas Classic, the Tigers couldn’t hold onto a halftime lead in a narrow 72-76 loss to Hardin-Simmons that finished the tournament.  Trinity then lost against both Colorado College and Austin College in a conference road weekend, including a double-overtime defeat at the hands of Austin. Danielle Hubenak scored a career-high 31 points in Sunday’s double-overtime loss, which is just the 12th time in the SCAC era (since 1991) that a Tiger player has scored 30 or more points in a game.  That total has also helped vault her into eighth in career scoring at Trinity, and Hubenak is just 35 more points from moving into seventh all-time. Abby Dietert is also looking to become the 16th player in Trinity history to reach 900 points in a career, needing just 61 more to reach the milestone.  Dietert is also just two steals from reaching 100 in her career. Already Trinity’s record-holder in both single season and career assists, Hubenak has now cracked the the top 10 in SCAC history.  Hubenak has amassed 371 assists in her career, tying her with Kayla Goodwin of Sewanee (1998-02) for 10th place.  Currently, only seven players in SCAC history have recorded 400 or more assists in a career, with DePauw’s Suzy Doughty (2003-07) being the record-holder with 488 in her career. Trinity will host a pair of SCAC games this weekend, taking on Millsaps and Hendrix.  The Tigers swept Millsaps last season, but lost both games against Hendrix.

To view the entire SCAC Hoops Weekly for week six, click here.