SUWANEE, Ga. - Rhodes punched its ticket into the SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament at the end of February as the Lynx are currently riding an eight game winning streak, tying its longest ever in the SCAC era. On the western side, Colorado College and Southwestern both qualified for the tournament leaving just three slots open to take a shot at the title and get a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College dropped its
first game over the weekend against Colorado College but got a
dramatic last second victory over Hendrix to snap a 15 game skid
and give the ‘Roos their second win of the season. The
‘Roos opened the weekend with a tough 71-60 loss to the
Tigers despite 21 points from Kersti Marusich and 14 from Angeleena
Young, but on Sunday the ‘Roos got a three pointer from Lexi
Beeson with 1.9 seconds remaining to give them the 61-58 win in
Conway. Christina Kime scored a team-high 16 points in the game and
Young added 12. For the weekend, Young knocked down seven three
pointers. The ‘Roos are back home this weekend when they host
the University of Dallas on Saturday.
Birmingham-Southern split on the road this week, defeating
Millsaps on Friday but falling to Rhodes on Sunday. Junior Alex
Adams led with 14 points against Millsaps, and junior Melanie Short
recorded 13 points and 14 rebounds. Seniors Kristiain Moody and
Ashton Spurgin also had 11 points each. Against Rhodes, Short led
with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, followed by Moody with 13
points. Adams also had 11 points and 8 rebounds. BSC returns home
this weekend for the first time since Jan. 21, facing Centre on
Friday and Sewanee on Sunday.
Centre took a small break from conference play to
host in-state rival Spalding on Wednesday. The game was a grind as
both teams shot the ball poorly. The Colonels led by three points
with a little over five minutes to play, but a three-pointer by
Maggie Hartlage ignited a 15-2 Centre run to put the game away. The
Colonels defeated Spalding 66-54. Chelsea Benham led all scorers
with 16 points. Lauren Huter recorded a double-double with 10
points and 10 rebounds. Maggie Prewitt finished the game with nine
points and 11 assists. Centre forced Spalding into 21 turnovers
while only allowing six assists. On Saturday, Centre resumed SCAC
play with a home game against Sewanee. The Colonels got off to a
fast start and never looked back, shooting 55% from three-point
range and hitting all 14 of their free throws. Much like their game
against Spalding, Centre played stifling defense, holding the
Tigers to 33% shooting and forcing 20 turnovers en route to an
81-49 victory. Benham and Prewitt each finished with 13 points and
nine rebounds while Bridget Winstead scored 11 points. Prewitt
ended the game one rebound and assist shy of her second
triple-double this season. The wins this past week were the 15th
and 16th in a row for the Colonels. They will travel to Birmingham
Southern and Oglethorpe this weekend.
Colorado College swept both of its games
last weekend during conference play to move into sole possession of
first place in the West Division of the SCAC with an 8-5 record.
With the wins, the Tigers are now 12-10 on the season. CC began the
weekend beating Austin College, 71-60 on Friday and finished the
weekend beating the University of Dallas, 85-53 on Sunday. In
Friday’s game, despite being outshot by the Kangaroos, the
Tigers were sent to the charity stripe 30 times where they hit a
season-high 25 shots from the free-throw line to earn the victory.
In the final game of the weekend, CC scored a season-best 85 points
and grabbed a season-high 68 rebounds to earn its 32-point victory
over the Crusaders. The Tigers had three players average in
double-figures during the week: senior Becky Luetjen averaged 14.5
points, junior Sarah Gunkel averaged 13.5 points and junior Marissa
Gradoz averaged 11 points. Gunkel and Gradoz also averaged
double-figure rebounds with 11.0 and 10.0 boards, respectively to
lead the team on defense. Colorado College returns to the road for
a pair of conference rematches against Southwestern University and
Trinity University on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Dallas (7-14, 3-10 SCAC) went 1-1 on the week in a
pair of SCAC road games. Dallas headed to Conway, Ark., for a
Friday night matchup with Hendrix College. Both teams matched each
other scoring-wise in the first and second halves, making an
overtime-period necessary. In the extra five minutes, Dallas
outscored Hendrix, 14-3, en route to a 71-60 victory. For the game
Dallas shot 39.4 percent (26-of-66) from the field, while the Lady
Warriors sank 31.3 percent (20-of-64). Junior guard Kylie Yoshimura
finished with a game-high 25 points for Dallas in 43 minutes, while
freshman guard Brooke Hagemann scored six of her 22 points in the
extra frame. The Lady Crusaders used Saturday as a travel day
before playing Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo., on
Sunday afternoon. At halftime, Colorado College held a 36-24
scoreboard advantage, before eventually winning 85-53. Unable to
get much going, Dallas shot 24.4 percent (9-of-42) on the game, in
comparison to the Lady Tigers’ mark of 50 percent (31-of-62)
from the floor. In defeat, Yoshimura scored a team-high 19
points.
Hendrix went 0-2 in their final home SCAC games of the
season. On Friday, Dallas topped Hendrix 71-60 in overtime and
Austin won 61-58 on Sunday. Against the Lady Crusaders, the
Warriors had a seven-point lead with 39 seconds remaining in
regulation, but could not hold on to the lead. For the second time
this season, 40 minutes was not enough for the Hendrix College and
the University of Dallas women’s basketball teams. On Jan. 6
in Irving, Texas, the Warriors came out on top 90-85 in overtime,
but the Lady Crusaders avenged their loss with a 71-60 victory in
extra time on Friday in Conway. Senior guard Anna Roane led Hendrix
with 18 points, hitting four three-pointers. Senior guard Katy
Ashley-Pauley had nine points and four assists and sophomore
forward Jamie Tate scored eight points and grabbed 21 boards, her
fourth 20-plus rebound game of the year. Freshman guard Lindsay
Drillette had season-bests with eight rebounds, four assists and
two steals. On Sunday, Lexi Beeson hit a three-pointer with 1.9
seconds left to secure the win for Austin. Roane once again paced
the Warriors with 17 points. Tate had 16 points and 11 rebounds for
her 13th double-double of the season. Tate, with 305 rebounds this
year, is now 15 rebounds away from the SCAC single season record of
320 set by Katy Williams of Austin in 2009-10. Ashley-Pauley added
12 points and six assists. Senior Erin McKinney, playing in the
first game of her injury-plagued career, started and played 11
minutes. The Springdale, Ark. native scored seven points, grabbed
seven rebounds and blocked a shot. Hendrix will go back on the road
this weekend, playing at Trinity on Friday and Southwestern on
Sunday.
After starting the year 18-2 and on a 15-game winning streak, the
Millsaps Majors Women’s Basketball Team did
something this weekend that was completely unexpected, drop the
weekend series. The Majors saw their 15-game winning streak come to
a close on Friday night as they struggled to get anything going
against a tough Birmingham-Southern defense. The Panthers held
Millsaps to 31% shooting from the field as they pulled away in the
second half to take a 59-45 win. Freshman Velvet Johnson led
Millsaps with 15 points while fellow freshman Samantha Perez had
seven. The Panthers shut down Morton, who only had five points, and
Okeke, who only put up two points. The Panthers also got to the
free throw line as they saw it 21 times to Millsaps' 11. BSC was
led by Melanie Short who picked up 13 points and 14 rebounds. For
the second game in a row, Millsaps had a rough day shooting from
the field on Sunday as they fell to the Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels,
47-35. The Majors only shot 21% for the game and 17% in the first
half. Johnson led the way with 15 points while Morton added six
points and 14 rebounds. With the loss, Millsaps drops its second
straight game for the first time this season as they are now 18-4
overall and 10-3 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
With a Rhodes win earlier, they move into a tie for second in the
Eastern Division with Millsaps currently holding the tiebreaker.
The Majors meet the Lynx on Saturday for Senior Night. All fans are
encouraged to come out, wear purple, and support senior Janice
Okeke in her final home game. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. with senior
ceremonies set for 10 minutes before the game.
Oglethorpe split two road games this past weekend, falling
at Rhodes (L, 47-73) and topping Millsaps in Jackson (W, 47-35).
Against Rhodes, the Petrels never led as the Lynx raced out to a
double-digit advantage late in the first half en route to the win.
Oglethorpe struggled to keep up with Rhodes as the Lynx jumped out
early and continually upped the margin. The Petrels were just
2-of13 from long distance on the night, hampering any comeback
attempt. Riley Cerone led the squad with 9 points while three
others - Mareva Bone, Sarah Giles and Ky'Laine Rogers - each
tallied eight. Giles also added 10 rebounds to her totals to lead
Oglethorpe in that department. Against Millsaps, the Lady Petrels
limited the Majors to 21% shooting on the day on their way to
scoring the road upset and surpassing last season's win total.
Oglethorpe nearly knocked off Millsaps last month in Atlanta before
going down in overtime. This time, they finished the upset off,
sending the Majors to their second straight defeat and dropping
them into a second place tie in the SCAC East at 10-3 in the
league. And this time, it was the Petrel defense clearing the path
to victory. The Lady Petrels smothered the Majors into a woeful
5-of-29 (17%) first half shooting performance and then kept the
heat up in the second to earn the win. The Petrels led throughout
the contest after starting the game on an 8-0 spurt. At halftime,
Oglethorpe led 22-14 and, by the early stages of the second, the
advantage had extended into double-digits. The Majors made one push
to cut the lead down to 5 with 3:53 to play but Sarah Giles
responded with 5 straight Oglethorpe points to seal the win. Giles
led all Petrels with 13 points and 7 rebounds on the afternoon.
Katie Weeks added 11 points and 6 rebounds while freshman Aisha
Atwater rounded out Oglethorpe's double-digit performers with 10
points to go along with 3 steals. The victory is the Petrels
seventh on the season, surpassing last season's total with three
games left on the slate. Oglethorpe is two games behind
Birmingham-Southern in the SCAC East for the final tournament spot
and will face the Panthers in the season finale. Next up, though,
are Homecoming festivities as Sewanee comes calling on Friday at
6:00 p.m. The women will be donning pink shoelaces and wearing pink
warm-up shirts in support of Kay Yow Breast Cancer Awareness
Week.
Sophomore guard Lauren Avant led a balanced
Rhodes attack with 21 points as Rhodes defeated
Birmingham Southern 69-52, for their 8th consecutive victory on
Sunday, February 5th in Mallory Gymnasium. Leading 50-46 with
8:21 to play in the game, Rhodes closed the game on a 19-6 run to
seal the win. Junior guard Sarah Womack added 17 points, connecting
on 4-of-12 three point field goal attempts and senior forward
Sharwil Bell added nine points and six rebounds. Freshman guard
Sarah Johnson added nine points, seven rebounds and five assists
and sophomore center Amy Handelman had eight points and four
rebounds The Lynx held the Panthers to 32% shooting from the field
and Birmingham Southern out rebounded Rhodes 39-30. Rhodes
forced 16 Panther turnovers and only committed 4 turnovers for the
game. Rhodes improves to 16-5 on the season and 10-3 in the
SCAC.
Sewanee dropped its only contest of the week, Saturday.
The Tigers fell at nationally ranked Centre, 81-49. The Tigers
struggled offensively going 28-of-53, while hitting only four three
pointers. This week, Sewanee will continue its road trip with a
pair of SCAC contests. Sewanee will take on both Oglethorpe and
Birmingham-Southern.
Southwestern split games with Trinity this week and fall
to second place in the SCAC West, one game behind Colorado College.
With four games to play the Pirates have solidified a spot in the
conference tournament, but what seed they will secure is still up
for grabs with big games at home this weekend. Wednesday night SU
traveled to San Antonio for the first game and the Tigers used two
late runs to beat the Pirates 85-75 in an offensive onslaught.
Saturday in Georgetown it was all defense during the uptempo game
as Southwestern held Trinity to below 30% from the field and three
point range. Southwestern sits at 10-11 on the year and 7-5 in the
SCAC. This weekend the Pirates play host to West-leading Colorado
College on Friday night and fourth-place Hendrix on
Saturday.
Trinity split a home-and-home series with Southwestern
last week, with each home team scoring a double-digit victory. The
Tigers tied for the top spot in the SCAC West Division with an
85-75 win on Wednesday night in San Antonio, but Southwestern took
a 74-61 rematch game on Saturday afternoon. Trinity and
Southwestern have split games the past two seasons, though the
Tigers have now won eight of the past 10 in the series. Trinity is
1.5 games out of first place in the divisional race, trailing both
Colorado College and Southwestern. The Tigers wrap up the regular
season home schedule with a pair of important SCAC games, though,
taking on Hendrix and division-leading Colorado. Trinity can clinch
a spot in the season-ending SCAC Tournament with just one win in
its final four games.
To view the entire SCAC Hoops Weekly for week eleven, click here.
