SUWANEE, Ga. - As the calendar turns to 2012, Centre, Millsaps and Sewanee are off some of the best starts in recent school history. Centre (10-1) is off to its best start in the SCAC era while Millsaps (10-2) is off to its best start since the 1996-97 season. The Purple Tigers of Sewanee (6-4) enter 2012 off to its best start since the 2005-06 season which also was the last time Sewanee won more than 10 games.

- Around the SCAC -

Austin College dropped both of its games last week, falling 66-32 to Wisconsin-Eau Claire before dropping a 71-37 decision to UT-Dallas. The 'Roos are now 1-11 overall this season. UWEC used its superior size to control the glass 45-28 and limit Austin College to 21.4% shooting on New Years Eve. Christina Kime scored eight points to pace the 'Roos, and again led the team in scoring along with Kersti Marusich with seven points apiece in the loss to UTD.

Birmingham-Southern was 2-1 this past week, winning two games at the Huntingdon College Coaches vs. Cancer Classic but falling on the road to Auburn Montgomery. In Montgomery, the Panthers defeated Blackburn College, 75-43, and Meredith College, 83-81. BSC lost to AUM 66-63. Against Blackburn, juniors Melanie Short and Erin moore led with 13 points each. Against Meredith, junior Alex Adams led with 18 points. And against AUM, junior Caroline King led with 19 points. For the week, Short led the team averaging 13 points a game, and senior Ashton Spurgin led on the boards with 7.3 rebounds a game. Senior Kristian  Moody also recorded 4.0 assists per game on the week. The Panthers return home this weekend for the first time since Dec. 11, resuming conference play to face Millsaps, Friday evening, and Rhodes, Sunday afternoon.

Centre was in Montgomery, Ala. this week to participate in the Huntingdon Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Centre played two games in the round robin tournament and won both of them. On Thursday, Centre played the Ripon Red Hawks. They trailed by seven at the half, but held Ripon to 24% shooting in the second half as they pulled away to a 70-56 win. Lauren Huter led the Colonels with 18 points, while Maggie Prewitt, Bridget Winstead and Paige Baechle each scored in double figures with 14, 11 and ten points, respectively. On Friday, the Colonels played the Mississippi College Choctaws and flipped the script from the previous day’s game. Centre got off to a blazing start and never looked back, leading by double digits most of the way and winning 69-56. Prewitt and Chelsea Benham recorded game highs with 19 points each.

After taking a couple weeks off during the holiday season, Colorado College returns to action on Monday as it hosts Berry College at 6 p.m. in Reid Gymnasium. This is the final non-conference matchup for the Tigers this season as they begin the New Year with a 6-5 record. CC will resume conference play on the road as it takes on Austin College at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Dallas (4-7, 0-3 SCAC) has registered a 2-2 record since the last report date. On Tuesday, Dec. 20, Howard Payne University rolled into the Maher Athletic Center. The Lady Yellow Jackets captured a 77-54 defeat over a Dallas squad which shot just 21.9-percent (7-of-32) in the second half. Bustamante and Hagemann led the Lady Crusaders with 14-points apiece. Bustamante finished one rebound shy of a double-double. Thursday, Dec. 29, saw Schreiner University visit the Maher. The Lady Mountaineers staved-off Dallas to the tune of a 63-54 victory. It was a close game throughout, with the Lady Crusaders trailing by four points entering halftime. Yoshimura tallied a game-high 17 points, while Bustamante also entered double-figure scoring (13 points) for Dallas. Up next for the Lady Crusaders was a trip to Florida Keys, Fla., to battle in the Key Largo Classic (two neutral site games). On Saturday, Dec. 31, Dallas met Newbury College (Mass.) on the court at Coral Shores High School. Though Newbury held Dallas to 30.9-percent (21-of-68) shooting, as opposed to their own mark of 34.5-percent (20-of-58) from the field, the Lady Crusaders did most of their damage from the free-throw line. At the charity stripe, Dallas converted on 16-of-27, as opposed to Newbury's 5-of-13 effort for the game. Jumaoas led the Lady Crusader charge, accumulating a team-high 18 points. With the 64-52 win over Newbury, Dallas moved on to the Key Largo Classic Championship Game versus Suffolk University (Mass.). The Lady Crusaders rang in 2012 the right way, edging Suffolk, 69-67, on Sunday, Jan. 1. The win, which has Dallas on their first winning-steak of the 2011-12 season, was fueled by a game-high 27-point effort from Yoshimura. Madden also contributed 14 points. On tap this week for Dallas are two SCAC home contests -- Hendrix College (Friday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m.) and Colorado College (Sunday, Jan. 8 at 1 p.m.).

Hendrix ended 2011 with a pair of non-conference defeats in Georgia. On Thursday, the Warriors lost at LaGrange 79-71. Sophomore forward Jamie Tate set career-highs with 25 points, 17 rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Avery Roller scored 18 points and senior guard Katy Ashley-Pauley added 14. On Friday, the Warriors lost at Berry 54-48. In the game, Hendrix pulled down 63 rebounds, tied for the fourth most in program history. Tate posted her sixth consecutive double-double with 13 points and 21 rebounds, a new career-best and the second most boards in school history. Ashley-Pauley had 11 points and seven rebounds and senior guard Samantha Devlin scored 10 points with eight boards. Hendrix will return to conference on Friday at Dallas and on Sunday at Austin.

Millsaps This past week, the Millsaps Majors Women’s Basketball Team pushed their winning streak to seven as they picked up wins over Huntingdon, Blackburn, and Rhodes. Against Huntingdon at the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, with the game tied, freshman Brittnei Earl hit her first career three pointer with 31 seconds remaining to push the Majors to a 60-56 win over the Huntingdon Hawks. The following day, Majors wrapped up their non-conference schedule with a dominating performance over Blackburn College on Friday morning, 70-39. The Majors then retuned to conference played this week with a thriller against Rhodes as they picked a huge road win over SCAC Eastern Division rival, Rhodes in what was an early battle second place in the division. Millsaps shot 44% in the second half to come from behind and pick up the 50-47 win. With 2:11 remaining in the game and the Lynx down four, Maxey had a wide open look for three before senior Janice Okeke made one of the plays of the year and came out of no where and blocked her shot all the way back to the free throw line and gained control of the ball. This gave Millsaps possession and the ability to run clock as they picked up their second conference win of the season. Junior Shante Morton continued what has been a great season with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Majors. Though she struggled form the field, Morton was able to get to the free throw line 12 times while converting on nine. Freshman Velvet Johnson added 11 points and five rebounds while Okeke had a great all around game with eight points, 12 rebounds, two steals, and the huge blocked shot. With the win, the Majors improve to 10-2 overall and 2-1 in the SCAC. They are just one game behind Eastern Division leader Centre (10-1 overall, 2-0 SCAC). The next game for Millsaps will be on the road at Birmingham-Southern on Friday and Oglethorpe on Sunday. Tipoff for Friday is set for 6 p.m.

Oglethorpe lost two contests over the Christmas break, falling to Mississippi College (L, 67-60) and Ripon College (L, 65-42). Against Mississippi, The Petrels trailed by 16 points with less than five minutes to play, rallied to cut the lead to 5, and had a shot up to slice it to three but could not convert before eventually falling to the Choctaws. Sarah Jones, who tallied a game-high 21 points, buried a three-pointer to start the scoring just nine seconds into the game. Unfortunately for Oglethorpe, it would be their only lead as the Choctaws rattled off consecutive hoops to gain an advantage they would never relinquish. The Petrels struggled from the field (16-of-49, 33%) but managed to outrebound the Choctaws 36-32 to hang around the game. Jones made 5-of-8 three-pointers on her way to 21 points and Kyana Jenkins and Morghan Brandon each tallied nine points and five rebounds in the loss. Against Ripon, the Red Hawks started the game with a 14-0 burst that put the Petrels on notice this would be a long afternoon. The Petrels made just 8-of-27 shots in the first stanza and did not make a three-pointer. The Red Hawks' Katie Raymond posted 18 first half points to nearly outscore the Petrels by herself. Oglethorpe briefly trimmed the Ripon lead down to 9 points in the second half but the Red Hawks pounced again and pushed the margin up to as many as 27 points before closing out the 65-42 win. The Petrels connected on only 15-of-54 shots (28%) and were outrebounded 44-26 in the loss. Riley Cerone notched eight points and Mareva Bone tallied seven for the cold shooting Petrels. At 3-9 on the season, Oglethorpe will get back into conference play exclusively beginning with a Jan. 6 contest versus Rhodes College on Pinholster Court at 6:00 p.m.

Rhodes used a 8-2 run over the last 4:17 of the game to beat Rust College 52-49, in the second round of the Coaches vs Cancer, on the campus of Huntingdon College on December 30th. Lynx senior forward Sharwil Bell (Memphis, TN) led all scorers with 16 points and her jumper with 3:47 left to play gave Rhodes the lead for good at 48-47. Lynx freshman guard Sarah Johnson (Little Rock, AR) scored a career high 15 points, and made two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to extend the Rhodes lead to 52-49. Rust missed a three point field goal on their ensuing possession and Rhodes secured the rebound and the win. Sophomore center Amy Handelman (Jackson, MS) pulled down a game high 7 rebounds and freshman guard Catherine Eckert (Austin, TX) added 7 points. Freshman forward Dy'nelle Todman (Athens, GA) grabbed 6 rebounds as the Lynx won their fourth straight game and improved to 7-3 on the season. Rhodes will return to action on January 2nd, when they face Millsaps College in Mallory Gymnasium at 3pm.

Sewanee who has won three straight contests took the past week and a half off from action during the holiday break. The Purple Tigers are off to it’s best start to a season since 2005-06 when Sewanee was 8-2 through 10 games. Sewanee returns to action this week as they host Covenant on Wednesday afternoon.

Southwestern has been busy since the holidays, hosting the annual Southwestern Holiday Classic before hitting the road for a non-conference match-up with LeTourneau. SU opened the Classic with Wheaton College (IL). The Pirates were perfect from the free throw line which allowed them to hang close after 11 turnovers. The Thunder opened the second half with a 10-0 run and SU responded with a pair of runs that pulled them within six points with six minutes to play, but couldn't put another run together and Wheaton closed the game from the free throw line for the 71-58 final. The final game of the tournament pitted Southwestern against Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The Pirates posted 42 points in the second half but it wasn't quite enough to overcome the 11 point first half deficit as they fell 64-37. Southwestern hit the road immediately following the new year with a game at LeTourneau. The Pirates fell 69-56 to the Yellowjackets in a back and forth contest that saw the largest lead of the game, 13 points, at the final buzzer.  Southwestern drops under .500 for the first time this season and sit at 6-7 on the year as they prepare to return to SCAC action on January 13th as they face Birmingham Southern at home and then host Oglethorpe on Saturday.

Trinity was 1-3 over the holiday break, losing both games at the Southwestern Tournament on December 28 and 29, but bouncing back with an 86-58 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor on New Year’s Eve. The Tigers then lost a tough 68-66 game on Monday night to open the 2012 calendar year. After opening the season 1-6, the Tigers are 3-3 over the past month, and have finished the non-conference schedule for the year. Trinity will not play this week, but will return to the court for an SCAC home weekend against Oglethorpe and Birmingham-Southern on Friday and Saturday. Last year, the Tigers defeated both Oglethorpe (88-62) and Birmingham-Southern (72-61) on the road.

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