SUWANEE, Ga. - Conference play got underway this past weekend and four teams came out unbeaten. In the Eastern Division, Centre knocked off Millsaps and Rhodes on the road while Birmingham-Southern defeated Oglethorpe in Atlanta. In the Western Division Colorado College swept Trinity and Southwestern at home while Austin College got its first win of the season against Dallas in its first ever SCAC contest.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College split its two games last week, falling 63-51 to Mid-America Christian before getting their first win of the year in a 74-63 victory over the University of Dallas. The 'Roos are now 1-5 overall and 1-0 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play on the year. Christina Kime scored 17 points and added three assists in the loss to MACU, and against UD, Kime matched her career high with 19 points and added seven assists to lead four 'Roos in double figures, and Brooke Melton notched a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards in the game. Shayna Clardy hit 3-of-5 threes on her way to 11 points and Angeleena Young hit three treys of her own and also finished with 11 points in the game as the 'Roos buried nine threes as a team and used a 44-22 rebounding advantage.

Birmingham-Southern opened conference play last week on the road against Oglethorpe, defeating the Stormy Petrels 64-46 to break a three-game losing skid. Junior Caroline King led the way for BSC with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and also led with nine rebounds. Senior Sam Davison and junior Alex Adams also scored 12 points each, and senior Kristian Moody had 11. King and Moody led with three assists apiece. The Panthers are back at home this weekend, facing University of New Orleans on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Centre opened their SCAC schedule on the road as they played Millsaps in Jackson on Friday. In a back and forth contest, the Colonels bested the Majors 66-61. Trailing by a point with a minute remaining, junior Chelsea Benham nailed a jumper and senior Maggie Prewitt hit four consecutive free throws to provide the final margin of victory. Prewitt led all scorers with 25 points. Benham added 12 points and six rebounds. On Sunday, the Colonels faced Rhodes in Memphis and pulled out another close victory, winning 62-57. Once again the game was tight throughout, but Centre closed the game on an 11-1 run to turn a five-point deficit into a five-point victory. With the scored tied at 57, senior Lauren Huter, junior Bridget Winstead and freshman Maggie Hartlage all hit clutch free throws while the defense forced the Lynx into critical turnovers and missed shots. Sophomore Paige Baechle led Centre with 14 points.

Colorado College went 2-0 over the weekend in the opening week of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action. The Tigers opened the weekend beating Southwestern University, 77-67. CC carried its winning streak into Saturday’s game as it beat Trinity University, 64-61, to win four straight and improve to 4-3 on the season. Over the weekend, the Tigers shot 40.7 percent on the floor and averaged 47.5 rebounds a game. Senior Becky Luetjen led the CC offense during the weekend with 38 points, which included a season-high 25 points against Southwestern. Junior Marissa Gradoz led the defense averaging 8.5 rebounds a game and also averaged 15 points a game over the weekend. Colorado College returns to the road this week for a pair of games in Oregon. The Tigers will play George Fox University on Friday at 6 p.m. and finish the trip against Linfield College at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Dallas (1-3, 0-1 SCAC) went 1-1 on the week. On Tuesday, the Lady Crusaders picked up their first win of the 2011-12 season, a 82-66 road victory over Dallas Christian College in Farmers Branch, Texas. Dallas then turned their attention to Austin College for the SCAC-opener on Saturday afternoon, a home game vs. the Lady 'Roos. Dallas led 40-38 entering halftime, but Austin College battled to a 36-23 advantage in the second-half en route to a 74-63 victory. On tap this week for Dallas is a single-game affair, a 6 p.m. road contest on Wednesday vs. Southwestern Adventist University.

Hendrix split their first two SCAC games of the 2011-12 season. On Friday, Hendrix overcame a 15-point first half deficit in part to career nights from Anna Roane and Jamie Tate, as the Warriors pulled out a 66-61 victory over Trinity. Roane, a senior guard from Albuquerque, N.M., scored 22 points, while hitting five three-pointers. Tate, a sophomore forward from Nashville, Tenn., also had a career-best 16 points with 13 rebounds, for her second consecutive double-double.  A lay-up by Libby Kruse at the 11:01 mark in the first half, put the visiting Tigers up 24-9. The Warriors managed to cut the lead to nine points, but Murphy Burns hit three-pointer at the buzzer to put Trinity up 36-24 at the break. Hendrix started the second period with a 23-4 run, with a three-pointer from senior guard Avery Roller putting the Warriors up 47-40 with 12:25 to play. Hendrix went five-of-six from behind the arc during that stretch. Hendrix also had a huge advantage at the free throw line, taking advantage of Trinity's 28 fouls. The Warriors went 23-of-35 from the charity stripe, and the Tigers were just 10-of-18. On Sunday, Hendrix lost to Southwestern 69-59. For the third consecutive game, Tate set a career-high in scoring. She netted 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and tied her personal best with 16 rebounds for her third straight double-double. Senior guard Samantha Devlin came up with the third double-double of her career with 15 points and 12 rebounds, a career-high, to go with three assists, three blocks and two steals. The Warriors will be off until Dec. 17 when they host Colorado College.

Millsaps split this past weekend of conference game in Jackson. In a game that saw 14 lead changes, 14 ties, and neither team leading by more then five points, the Majors dropped a thriller on Friday evening in their conference opener against Centre, 66-61 Junior Lovie Love led the way for Millsaps with 19 points, as she was 5-of-7 from behind the arc. Junior Shante Morton picked up her fourth consecutive double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Janice Okeke returned for the first time this season due to injury and picked up six points and three rebounds along with four blocks on the night. Sophomore Shatoya White added six assists. The following day, Millsaps used a 21-5 run to start the second half to pull away from the Sewanee Tigers and pick up their first conference win of the season on Sunday afternoon. Freshman Velvet Johnson led Millsaps offensively with 18 points while Love was right behind her with 17. Morton continued her dominance down low as she earned her fifth straight double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds, she also added four blocks. Freshman Brittnei Early added nine rebounds while Okeke continued to return into playing form as she pulled down eight rebounds and two blocks. With the win, Millsaps improves to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the SCAC. The Majors get a week off before returning to action on Monday evening against the Rust Lady Bearcats in The Hangar Dome. The two squads met earlier in the year, with Millsaps taking a 59-58 win in Holly Springs.

Oglethorpe dropped two games this past week, losing at Berry (L, 61-55) and at home to Birmingham-Southern (L, 64-48). Against Berry,  the Petrels were only able to convert 22% of their second half field goals on their way to their third straight defeat. Despite lacking their shooting touch the Petrels battled the Vikings in the first half and opened up a 6 point lead with 2 minutes left before the break. Berry shaved the lead to two points at the half and things began to snowball in the second when Oglethorpe couldn't buy a bucket. Sarah Giles tallied the first bucket of the second half but Berry responded to quickly tie it and the two teams stayed close for the first 10 minutes of the half. Then, with 10:30 to play, Berry used a 15-2 spurt to seize control of the game. In addition to the 8-of-27 second half shooting performance, the Petrels did not help their own cause in trying to claw back by missing 9 second half free throw attempts. Sarah Giles paced the attack with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. She also grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds. Mareva Bone (12 points on 4-of-17 shooting) and Sarah Jones (10 points, 5 rebounds) rounded out the Petrels in double-figures on the night. Against Birmingham-Southern, the Petrels forced 26 Panther turnovers but could not capitalize as the squad endured another rough night shooting the basketball (17-of-55, 31%). Oglethorpe briefly led in the early stages of the game but their cold shooting would eventually catch up to them and the Panthers would race out to a 29-21 halftime advantage. Southern extended the lead to double-digits in the early stages of the second half and, with the shots not falling, Oglethorpe could not whittle the margin back down to get in striking distance. The Petrels forced 26 Panther turnovers while only giving it up themselves 19 times, yet, still, Southern held a 24-19 advantage in points off turnovers. The Panthers also controlled the backbards throughout the afternoon , leading Oglethorpe 41-31 in that category. The Petrels also only connected on 2-of-11 attempts from downtown while Southern drilled 10 treys in the contest on their way to the win. Mareva Bone put together a nice all-around game in the loss, scoring a team-high 11 points, forcing 8 steals, grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing 3 assists. At 2-5, the Petrels will look to get back into the win column when they face Covenant College this Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. on Pinholster Court.

Centre needed a 11-1 run over the final 2:30 to rally past Rhodes by a 62-57 score at Mallory Gymnasium, on Sunday, December 4th. In a game that featured 14 lead changes and 11 ties, Centre rallied from a 56-51 deficit to hand Rhodes their first SCAC loss of the season. Senior forward Sharwil Bell (Memphis, TN) hit a jump shot with 3:00 to play to give the Lynx their largest lead of the game at 56-51. On the next possession Rhodes appeared ready for another defensive stop before Centre sophomore forward Paige Baechle connected with one second on the shot clock to cut the margin to 56-53. After the Lynx failed to convert on the offensive end, Centre cut the margin to 56-54 on a Lauren Huter free throw with 1:47 to play.  The score remained the same until Centre guard Bridget Winstead connected on a three point field goal to give Centre a 57-56 lead with 1:02 to play. The Lynx tied the score at 57-57, on a Bell free throw, however; Centre would regain the lead with two foul shots by Huter with 26 seconds to play. On the next Rhodes possession Bell was called for a player control foul with 16 seconds to play and the Colonels were able to seal the win at the foul line. Rhodes freshman guard Sarah Johnson (Little Rock, AR), led all Rhodes scorers with a career high 14 points. Johnson also added five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Junior guard Sarah Womack (Germantown, TN) added nine points and recorded two steals. Centre, the pre-season favorite to win the SCAC improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the SCAC.  With the loss Rhodes falls to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in the SCAC. Rhodes will host Rust College in Mallory Gymnasium, on Tuesday, December 6th at 5:00 pm.

It was a tough week for the Sewanee women’s basketball team. The Tigers first dropped a 98-70 decision against Emory last Tuesday. Then, over the weekend, Sewanee could not hold off strong second half runs by Rhodes and Millsaps, losing to both its conference rivals. This week, Sewanee will look to get back on track as the Tigers host Hiwassee College, Tuesday.

Southwestern opened SCAC conference action on the road this week and hit a snag, falling to Colorado College on Friday before rebounding to defeat Hendrix on Sunday. The game with the Tigers on Friday was a back and forth contest with five ties and 13 lead changes through most of the first half, but CC took control just before halftime and never let go of the lead. Poor shooting cost Southwestern the game as they shot just 31.6% from the floor and 54.2% from the free throw line in the 77-67 loss. SU's offensive powers returned on Sunday as the Pirates shot 50% from three point range on Sunday against Hendrix. Southwestern took a large lead, 17 points, into halftime and held off the Warriors push in the second half to win 69-59. With the split Southwestern moves to 4-3 on the year, 1-1 in the SCAC. They return to non-conference action this weekend, facing NAIA Texas Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon.

Trinity began conference play with a pair of road losses at Hendrix College and Colorado College on Friday and Saturday evenings. The Tigers led by as many as 15 points in the opening period, and held a 12-point advantage at the break. Hendrix scored 14 straight to open the second half, though, and Trinity would not lead again in the game. The Tigers did tie it early in the second, and then again at 58-58 with 4:04 to play, but the Warriors held Trinity scoreless over the final 2:28 to seal the win. On Saturday evening against Colorado, it was another closely played game, and neither team led by more than five points through the first 20 minutes of action. Trinity did score eight unanswered midway through the second half to go up 45-37, and still held a five-point advantage with under five minutes left, but the hometown Colorado Tigers used a 7-0 run to take a slim lead late in the game. Trinity tied it for the 10th time with under a minute to play, but Colorado held on for the win in the end. Trinity will not play again until December 16 and 17, hosting the University of Dallas and Austin College in continued SCAC action.

To veiw the entire SCAC Hoops Weekly for week three, click here.