SUWANEE, Ga. - This past weekend was the first of three straight SCAC cross divisional basketball weekends. This year the western schools will host the eastern division twice however it was the eastern division who surprising played well on the road this past weekend splitting twelve games, 6-6.

- AROUND THE SCAC -

Austin College dropped both of its games last week, falling 65-41 to Millsaps College before losing 52-37 to Rhodes College on Saturday. The ‘Roos are now 1-15 overall and 1-6 in SCAC play with the two defeats. The ‘Roos return to action Friday night against Birmingham-Southern in Birmingham, Alabama.

Birmingham-Southern dropped both of their games this week on the road, falling to Southwestern, 75-62, Friday, and Trinity, 70-65, Saturday. Against Southwestern, junior Melanie Short led BSC with 17 points, followed by senior Kristian Moody with 14. Short and senior Ashton Spurgin led with seven rebounds each, and Moody led with four assists. Against Trinity, Short again led BSC, scoring 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting and pulling down nine rebounds. Juniors Caroline King and Alex Adams also had 12 points each. Senior Sam Davidson and sophomore Stephanie Stanley led with four assists each, and King led with four steals. Short also recorded three blocks. The Panthers return home this weekend, hosting Austin College, Friday, and University of Dallas, Saturday, both at 6 p.m. in Bill Battle Coliseum.

Centre women’s basketball team extended their win streak to ten games and improved their conference record to 6-0 as they won at Colorado and Hendrix this week. On Friday, Colorado dominated the first half, leading by as many as 11 points and leading by six going into the half. The Colonels chipped away at the lead and the second half became a back and forth affair. A three-pointer by Jane Goatley gave Centre the lead for good at 69-68 and a jumper by Chelsea Benham with eight seconds left provided the final winning margin of 72-68. Centre dominated the boards against Colorado, holding a 48-34 rebounding edge. They also converted 26-29 free throws. Maggie Prewitt led Centre with 20 points. Chelsea Benham scored 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Lauren Huter and Maggie Hartlage each scored 10 points. Against Hendrix on Sunday, the Colonels pulled away to a 70-55 win after an outstanding second half. Centre shot 61.5% from the field in the second half while holding Hendrix to 27.3%. Five Centre players scored in double figures, led by Prewitt with 18. Huter recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Centre will host Southwestern and Dallas this week.

Colorado College split games last week during SCAC action. The Tigers fell to Centre College, who is currently undefeated in conference play, 72-68 during the first game of the week. CC outshot Centre, 25-22 from the floor and made eight baskets from long range, but the Colonels had the advantage at the charity stripe hitting 26 free throws to the Tigers’ 10. Senior Becky Luetjen led the team with a season-high 28 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. She also led the team tying her career-high five steals and had a team-high four assists and two blocks against Centre. Despite the loss, CC finished the week on a high note with a 53-49 victory over Sewanee: The University of the South. Freshman Shelby Hansen led the team with nine points, while Luetjen, Courtney Tyus and Gracie Rennecker each added seven points to aid the offense. Luetjen led the team on defense with nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals and also dished out a team-high five assists against Sewanee. The Tigers return to the road this weekend as they take on Millsaps College and Rhodes College on Friday and Sunday.

Dallas (5-10, 1-6 SCAC) went 0-2 on the week in a pair of SCAC contests. Friday brought Rhodes College to the Maher Athletic Center in Irving, Texas. Trailing 32-31 to the Lady Lynx at halftime, Dallas fell 66-55 after converting just 13.3-percent (4-of-30) from the field in the second half. Christy Allen and Kylie Yoshimura fared well for Dallas, combining for 32 of the Lady Crusader points. Allen also amassed 15 rebounds (six offensive), rendering her a double-double. Meanwhile, Millsaps College visited Dallas on Sunday afternoon. Despite a mighty effort, Dallas could not overcome an 11 point, 34-23 halftime deficit. Led by the 12 point second-half performance of Allen, who finished with a game-high 20 points, Dallas outscored Millsaps in the final half, 28-26, before falling, 60-51. On the schedule this week for Dallas are two SCAC road contests -- Oglethorpe College (Friday, Jan. 20, at 6 p.m.) and Birmingham-Southern College (Saturday, Jan. 8, at 1 p.m.).

Hendrix went 1-1 at home over the weekend, holding off Sewanee 59-56 on Friday, then falling to first place Centre 70-55 on Sunday. Against Sewanee, senior guard Anna Roane scored 21 points, hitting four three-pointers. Senior guard Katy Ashley-Pauley had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore forward Jamie Tate, the nation's leading rebounder, grabbed 16 boards, but was held to just five points, breaking a streak of eight consecutive double-doubles. Against the Colonels, Roane and Ashley-Pauley each scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds. Ashley-Pauley also had four assists. Senior guard Samantha Devlin added 10 points and Tate had 14 rebounds. The Warriors will travel to Rhodes on Friday and Millsaps on Sunday.

After 33 days and nine games since their last game in Jackson, the Millsaps Majors Women's Basketball Team is ready to return home to play in front of their crowd. The Majors completed a perfect road trip as they went 9-0 after wrapping up their road trip this weekend and extended their win streak to 11. On Friday, Millsaps got off to their best start since 1995-96 as they cruised to a 65-41 beat down of Austin College. Their overall win total matches at that time matched their total wins in the last two years and they set a new school record for winning streaks at 10. Junior Shante Morton led Millsaps offensively with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Freshmen Samantha Perez and Velvet Johnson added 11 points each. Perez added four assists and five steals as she had one of the best games of her early career. Freshman Natasha Mbenza also put up career high numbers with eight points and six rebounds. The Majors returned on Sunday and completed their road trip with a win over the University of Dallas on Sunday, 60-51. Johnson led Millsaps with 17 points while freshman Brittnei Earl and Morton added nine each. Senior Janice Okeke led all rebounders with eight and also added eight points to go with three assists and a steal. With the wins, Millsaps improves to 14-2 overall and 6-1 in the SCAC. The Majors finally return to the friendly confines of The Hangar Dome on Friday as they host their White Out Game at 6 p.m. against Colorado College. All fans are encouraged to wear white and the first 100 students to arrive and show their student ID will receive a free white out t-shirt.

Oglethorpe lost two road contests this weekend, falling at Trinity (L, 77-51) and Southwestern (L, 65-60). Against Trinity, the Lady Petrels drilled their first three shots, all three-pointers, to claim an early 9-0 lead. After that, it was all downhill as the Tigers roared back to a blowout win on their home court. The tough road test got underway well enough as Oglethorpe poured in nine points in the game's first 80 seconds on the strength of back-to-back-to back three-pointers that were each assisted by a different player. Sarah Jones drilled the first, Riley Cerone the second and Jones followed again to cap the flurry to give the Petrels a 9-0 lead with 18:43 to play in the half. The Tigers responded, however, to score 36 of the next 46 points to dispel any notion of Oglethorpe claiming a road conference victory. The Petrels wound up trailing 36-25 at halftime but never got closer than that in a second half that was dominated by Trinity. Oglethorpe struggled with its shooting touch (18-of-63 - 28%) in the loss but really did themselves in with ball security, turning it over 35 times on the night. The Tigers converted those Petrel miscues into 31 points. Against Southwestern, the Petrels trailed by 16 before rallying to trim the lead to 3 points before the Pirates managed to close the door to earn the win. Despite never leading, the Petrels gave the Pirates fits all evening long before finally succombing. After Southwestern scored the game's first 8 points the Petrels rallied back with seven straight of their own. The Petrels continued to hang around and, following a Christian Langston hoop with 7:15 left in the half, the margin was only two at 17-15. The Pirates, however, exploded for the next 14 points to open up a 16 point lead. Oglethorpe netted the final four points of the stanza and the score was 31-19 at the half. The teams traded baskets in the early stages of the second half before a 9-0 spurt by Oglethorpe capped by a Sarah Jones three-ball trimmed the lead to four at 42-38 with 13 minutes left in the contest. The Pirates stretched their lead back up to a dozen but Oglethorpe clawed back again and, after Ky'Laine Rogers scored two of her team-high 12 points, the lead was down to 3 with 38 ticks left. The Petrels got the Pirates to split a pair of free throws but Oglethorpe could not capitalize as they committed a costly turnover on the ensuing possession. Forced to foul again, the Petrels had to watch the Pirates convert both at the stripe this time to up the lead to 6 and salt the game away. Rogers was 6-of-10 from the field to enjoy her most productive outing of the season. In addition to the 12 points, she also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds on the night. Jones tallied 11 and Mareva Bone and Katie Weeks each posted 8. The Petrels (3-13, 0-7) are back in action this Friday night when they square off with Dallas on Pinholster Court at 6:00 p.m.

Sophomore guard Lauren Avant (Memphis, TN) scored a career high 14 points to lead Rhodes to a 52-37 SCAC road victory over Austin College on Saturday, January 14th in Sherman, TX.  The win gave the Lynx a road sweep for the weekend and they will return home to face Hendrix College on Friday, January 20th. Lading 24-21 at half, the Lynx used a 22-9 run over the first 15 minutes of the second half to extend their lead to 46-30 on a Jaime Maxey (Atlanta, GA) three point field goal with 5:00 to play. Rhodes held the Kangaroos to 9 of 31 field goal shooting (29%) and outrebounded Austin 33-29. Freshman guard Sarah Johnson (Little Rock, AR) added 11 points and sophomore center Amy Handelman (Jackson, MS) grabbed a team high 6 rebounds.  Rhodes forced a season best 29 turnovers as they improve to 10-5 overall and 4-3 in SCAC play.

Sewanee went 1-2 this past week picking up a non-conference win over Covenant before falling in two road SCAC contests. The Purple Tigers fought tough in both losses losing by a combine seven points in both games to Hendrix and Colorado College. Despite the two losses Sewanee has now won five of its last eight games.

Southwestern picked up where they left off in conference action, going 2-0 this week to improve to 8-7 on the year and 5-1 in the SCAC. An opening run followed by strong defense and rebounding gave Southwestern the win, 75-62, over Birmingham-Southern on Friday night. The Pirates opened the game on a 13-0 run and used rebounding and free throw shooting to seal the game down the stretch. Saturday SU jumped out once again to an early lead, but Oglethorpe hung around, shooting 50% from the field in the second half, to make it a game. Southwestern was able to take advantage of fouls, making free throws down the stretch and playing solid defense to earn the 65-60 win. SU takes their game on the road to Centre College on Friday night and Sewanee on Saturday.

Trinity won its fourth consecutive SCAC game with a two-game conference weekend sweep of Oglethorpe and Birmingham-Southern on Friday and Saturday nights. The Tigers earned a lopsided 77-51 win against Oglethorpe to start the weekend, then held off a tough Birmingham-Southern team for a 70-65 win. Trinity has won four straight regular season meetings against both teams, dating back to the 2007-08 season. Trinity will be on the road next weekend, facing off against Sewanee and Centre on Friday and Saturday. Last season, the Tigers split games with these two teams, defeating Sewanee, but losing to Centre. Under Head Coach Amie Bradley, Trinity is 7-0 in regular season meetings with Sewanee, and 5-2 against Centre during the regular season.

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