SUWANEE, Ga. - After the final weekend of cross divisional play for the 2011-12 SCAC regular season, both Centre and Millsaps have punched their tickets to the SCAC Basketball Tournament at the end of February in Birmingham, Alabama. Overall the Eastern Division posted a 25-11 record against the Western Division throughout cross divisional action this year.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College dropped two tough games this past weekend, falling 78-54 against Centre and 52-44 against Sewanee after having led both games at halftime. The ‘Roos got out to strong starts in both games but cold shooting did them in both times, hitting just 17% from the field in the second half against the Colonels and 24% after halftime against Sewanee. Christina Kime continued her outstanding freshman season, averaging 13.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game in the two losses, and Angeleena Young hit seven threes to average 11.5 points in the two games. Kersti Marusich had a strong game against Sewanee, knocking down 2-of-3 three pointers on her way to 14 points and adding five boards. This weekend the ‘Roos head out on the road to take on Colorado College and Hendrix College.

Birmingham-Southern split this week on the road, defeating Colorado College in a hard-fought Friday evening game, but falling to Hendrix on Sunday. Senior Sam Davidson led the way against Colorado College, hitting 5-of-10, all from three-point range for a team-high 15 points. Junior Caroline King also recorded 12 points. Against Hendrix, junior Melanie Short led the Panthers with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and senior Ashton Spurgin added 10 points. BSC is on the road again this week, facing Millsaps on Friday and Rhodes on Sunday.

Centre won its 13th and 14th games in a row this week, beating both Austin and Dallas on the road. On Friday against Austin, the first half was a close contest thanks to hot three-point shooting from Austin. But the Colonels picked up their defensive intensity and held Austin to 20 points in the final frame while scoring 46, as they won the game by a score of 78-54. Chelsea Benham led all scorers with 18 points. Maggie Prewitt scored 15 points and handed out seven assists, while Bridget Winstead hit four three-pointers. Centre outrebounded Austin 44-31 for the game. On Sunday against Dallas, defense was the name of the game as both offenses were largely held in check. Centre once again dominated the glass, outrebounding Dallas 52-37 with Maggie Prewitt pulling down 15 boards and Chelsea Benham grabbing 10. Prewitt and Benham finished the game with 19 and 16 points, respectively. Centre led by as many as 15 points in the second half as they won by a score of 58-48.

Colorado College split games last weekend to remain even this season with a 10-10 record. The Tigers fell to Birmingham-Southern College in a close 60-57 loss on Friday, but rebounded on Sunday to beat Oglethorpe University, 68-47, to move up to second place in the SCAC West Division with a 6-5 record. In Friday’s game, the Tigers outshot their opponents from the floor, but the Panthers hit four more three-pointers and made an extra free throw to earn the victory. In the final game of the week, CC was strong defensively grabbing a season-high 54 rebounds to help earn the win. The Tigers had three players grab double-figure rebounds during Sunday’s game: freshman Shelby Hanssen grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, while senior Becky Luetjen and junior Marissa Gradoz each grabbed 11 boards. Luetjen led CC over the weekend averaging 24.5 points and 9.0 rebounds. Senior Jordy Stephenson aided the offense averaging 13.5 points and dished out a team-high eight assists over two games. Colorado College continues play at home with a pair of conference rematches against Austin College and the University of Dallas on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Dallas (6-13, 2-9 SCAC) went 1-1 on the week in a pair of home SCAC contests. Dallas notched a 73-66 victory over Sewanee: University of the South on Friday evening at the Maher Athletic Center, with freshman guard Brooke Hagemann recording a game-high 27-points and 11 rebounds (double-double) for the Lady Crusaders. Sunday afternoon, Centre College kept their perfect SCAC record intact with a 58-48 victory over Dallas in a game with porous first-half shooting -- Dallas (25 percent); Centre (27.6 percent). Freshman guard Marleyna Bustamante tied for a game-high 19 points with Centre's Maggie Prewitt. On the docket this week for Dallas are two SCAC road games -- Hendrix College (Friday, Feb. 3, at 6 p.m.) and Colorado College (Sunday, Feb. 5, at 1 p.m.).

Hendrix went 1-1 at home in SCAC competition over the weekend. On Friday, Oglethorpe topped Hendrix 69-60. Senior guard Anna Roane led the Warriors with 14 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Avery Roller added 12 points and four assists. Sophomore forward Jamie Tate had 11 points, 16 rebounds and four steals. Hendrix halted their four-game skid by defeating Birmingham-Southern 71-61 on Sunday.  Tate posted her 12th double-double of the season and 14th consecutive game with double-digit rebounds by scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 boards. The Nashville, Tenn. native, who already has the school record for most rebounds in the season, has cracked the top 10 single-season rebounders in SCAC history, moving her total to 273, good for seventh place. Roane also scored 17 points and pulled down six rebounds. Senior guard Katy Ashley-Pauley came off the bench to score 15 points and dish out six assists and Roller chipped in 10 points with three assists. Hendrix will be at home again this weekend, hosting Dallas on Friday and Austin on Sunday.

Two seasons ago, the Millsaps Majors Women's Basketball Team was sitting at the bottom of the SCAC after a 1-24 season. Now, with five games remaining, the Majors have earned a spot in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since the 2008-09 season after they swept Southwestern and Trinity to improve its winning streak to 15. On Friday with 4:08 remaining in the game, Southwestern's Annie Bourne hit a layup to bring the Pirates within four in front of their home crowd. The Majors responded with a 15-0 to finish the game as they made an emphatic statement on the road with a dominating win, 79-60. Senior Janice Okeke had a huge night with 20 points and 14 rebounds and also added a career high seven steals, three blocks, and one assist. Junior Shante Morton followed her up with 17 points and 16 rebounds for her 13th double-double of the season. Freshman Velvet Johnson was on fire in the second half as she picked up all 18 of her points while shooting 7-for-12 during the half. Freshman Samantha Perez added 10 points while sophomore Shatoya White hit timely shots with nine points and added a career high eight assists in 38 minutes. The following Sunday, Millsaps used a 27-7 run to end the game including a 20-2 run midway through the second half as the Majors erased a five-point halftime deficit to come from behind and earn their 15th consecutive win over Trinity, 71-57. Morton led the way with 24 points including 19 points in the second half. Johnson added 17 points while White picked up 12 points as she kept the Majors in reach in the first half with 11 points. Defensively, Okeke led all rebounders with 15 while Johnson was terrific with four steals and three blocks in addition to her points. The Majors return home on Friday as they welcome in the Birmingham-Southern Panthers, a team they narrowly beat in Birmingham a month ago 79-76 in overtime. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at The Hangar Dome.

Oglethorpe split two road games this weekend, topping Hendrix (W, 69-60) and losing at Colorado (L, 68-47). Against Hendrix, The Petrels scored the last 11 points of the first half for a 9 point locker room lead that held up despite a few Warrior challenges in the second stanza. The scoring went back-and-forth at the outset with neither team gaining larger than a four point advantage throughout the contests first 15 minutes. The Warriors converted an old fashioned three-point play at the free throw line to edge out in front 22-20 with 4:47 left in the half before Oglethorpe made their decisive move. Katie Weeks started the burst with a three-ball to give OU a one point cushion and Christian Langston followed with a back-to-back jumpers, the second on which she got fouled and converted at the stripe, to up the margin to six. Deadeye Sarah Jones capped the half-ending flourish by drilling a trey just before the horn to send Oglethorpe into halftime owning a 31-22 lead. The Petrels even pushed the margin in front of the hostile crowd all the way to 13 at the 16:15 mark of the second half when Jones scored, got fouled and nailed her free throw. The Warriors fought back bravely to trim the lead down to four points on four separate occasions down the stretch, but Oglethorpe responded each time to close out the win. Their best defense in thwarting the Warrior rally was superior free throw shooting where Oglethorpe drilled 12-of-13 attempts in the second half to keep Hendrix at bay. Against Colorado, The Petrels actually led by 8 points midway through the first half and still were on top at the break, but got outscored 40-18 in a rough second stanza. The Lady Petrels trailed 5-4 early on before using a 10-1 spurt to claim a 14-6 advantage with 11:05 to play in the half. Sarah Giles and Katie Weeks, Oglethorpe's two leading scorers on the afternoon, combined for 6 of the 10 points in the stretch, and the Petrels looked poised to win a second straight SCAC tilt on the road. The Tigers battled back, however, to tie the score and Oglethorpe needed a Giles free throw to eke ahead 29-28 at halftime. Any notions of a fourth straight win were dashed early in the second half as the Tigers ripped off the first 11 points to open a double-digit advantage the Petrels would struggle to overcome. Oglethorpe did use a 7-0 burst to trim the lead to 46-40 with 9:43 to play but the Tigers responded immediately. Down by 9, Oglethorpe failed to score over the game's final five minutes as the Tigers pushed the winning margin northward. The Petrels made just 7-of-35 (20%) attempts from the field in the second half, including only 1-of-11 from distance. Giles and Weeks tallied 13 points apiece in the loss. Morghan Brandon added 6 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals as Oglethorpe fell to 6-14 (3-8) on the season. The Lady Petrels are back in action next Friday when they travel to Memphis to face Rhodes College.

Rhodes used a balanced attack to down Southwestern (TX) 74-67 in a SCAC road win at Georgetown, TX on Saturday, January 28th.  Junior center Mary Barber (St. Louis, MO) and sophomore guard Lauren Avant  (Memphis, TN) led the Lynx scoring attack with 13 points apiece. Junior guard Sarah Womack (Germantown, TN) added 12 points and senior forward Sharwil Bell (Memphis, TN) scored 10 points and grabbed a team high 8 rebounds. It was Womack who ignited a Rhodes 11-0 second half run that broke a 48-48 tie and put Rhodes up 59-48 with just over 9 minutes to play. Womack hit consecutive three point field goals and the Lynx held the Pirates scoreless for over 4 minutes to seal the win. The Lynx outrebounded the Pirates 39-35 and forced 25 Southwestern turnovers. Freshman guard Sarah Johnson (Little Rock, AR) added 8 points and had a season high 6 assists as the Lynx won for the 6th consecutive game. In the final minutes freshman guard Natalie Goodrum (Nashville, TN) sealed the win hitting four consecutive free throws. Rhodes improves to 14-5 overall and 8-3 in the SCAC.

Sewanee split both of its road SCAC contests last weekend. After falling atDallas, the Tigers ended their five-game losing streak with an impressive 55-42 win at Austin. Down 35-25 in that contest, Sewanee used a 20-6 run to close the gap midway through the second half. From there, Sewanee would not relinquish its lead. In that game, junior guard Dana Middleton led all scores while freshman forward Kayla Sewell pitched in 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

Southwestern remain atop the SCAC West despite dropping two games at home this weekend. They fell to 9-10 overall and 6-4 in the SCAC and are half of a game ahead of Colorado College. Millsaps' inside game was too much for Southwestern to handle on Friday night as the Majors scored 46 of their 79 points in the paint to defeat SU 79-60. The Pirates battled back from being down double digits in the second half to pull within eight with just under three minutes to play, but Millsaps stayed just out of reach to secure the win. Saturday night the Pirates started on fire, shooting 50% from three point range in the first half, but cooled off in the second frame to fall 74-67. Rhodes converted on 8-9 free throws during the final 1:12 to keep Southwestern from making a comeback. The Pirates hit the road to San Antonio this Wednesday before hosting the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.

Trinity lost a pair of SCAC home games over the weekend, slipping up in a tough overtime loss against Rhodes on Friday, then falling to Millsaps on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers held a three-point lead in the final seconds against Rhodes, and after a free throw cut the lead to two, Rhodes then stole the inbounds pass, and made a layup with 0.5 seconds left to force overtime. The Lynx carried that momentum into the extra period, and escaped with an unlikely victory. On Sunday, the Tigers held a slim lead in the latter part of the second half, but Millsaps went on a 15-0 run to pull ahead and seal the win. The Tigers will face off against Southwestern University twice this week, beginning with a Wednesday night home game. The week will conclude with a game at Southwestern on Saturday night. Trinity has won seven of the past eight meetings against the Pirates, though the loss came in last year’s game in Georgetown, Texas.

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