LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The league's top six women's teams will assemble in Shreveport, La., on the campus of Centenary College this weekend to decide the 2016 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament champion and the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. Official Tournament Website | Women's Bracket

Austin College and Trinity University both finished the regular season with identical 11-3 conference marks, and, after working through each of the league's tiebreakers, a coin toss was ultimately needed to determine the top seed for this weekend's event. Trinity won the toss and will be the tournament's top seed, although both Trinity and Austin College will receive first round byes and both will be recognized as SCAC Regular Season Co-Champions.

Trinity (20-5 overall) enters this year's event seeking its first tournament title since the 2013 season and fourth overall. Playing as the No. 3 seed a year ago, the Tigers advanced to the championship game before losing to Southwestern, 71-58. Coach Cameron Hill's squad, which has been ranked as high as 17th in the nation this season, leads the SCAC in scoring defense (56.2 points allowed per game) and also owns both the league's best scoring margin (+9.6) and turnover margin (+6.8). Despite losing its last game, Trinity enters tournament play having won 8 of its last 10 games. Individually, the Tigers are led by junior guard Monica Holguin, who leads the team in scoring at 13.3 points per game (fifth in the SCAC) and is also averaging 2.6 assists (seventh in the SCAC) and 2.0 steals (third in the SCAC) per game. Sophomore forward Mollie Hughes adds 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game (third in the SCAC) while senior guard Caitlin Barrett leads the SCAC in steals (3.2 per game) and is third in assists (3.2 per game). Trinity awaits the winner of Texas Lutheran and Southwestern and will play in Saturday's first semifinal game at 5 p.m. CT.

Austin College (18-7) enters tournament play as the hottest team in the league. The 'Roos are winners of seven straight, which represents the program's longest win streak since the 2009-10 squad put together 10 straight victories. The regular season title is the first for the program since joining the conference prior to the 2006-07 season and the 18 victories tie a SCAC-era high-water mark for regular season wins (tied w/ the 2009-10 team). The 'Roos lead the SCAC in both field goal percentage (39.4 percent) and field goal percentage defense (34.1 percent) and is on pace to be the first team since the 2009-10 Centre College squad to lead the league in both categories. Austin College also leads the league and is fifth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (36.8 percent). Individually, head coach Michelle Filander can rely on several contributors to get the job done. Among those, first-year forward Bryce Frank leads a balanced Austin College attack by averaging 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds (fifth in the SCAC) per game. She also averages 2.7 assists (sixth in the SCAC) and 0.9 blocks per game (seventh in the SCAC). Junior forward Kendall Heitmeier follows with 10.5 points per game and sophomore guard Kali Vittallo averages 9.9 points and 2.8 assists (fifth in the SCAC) per game while leading the SCAC in 3-point field goal percentage (43.8 percent). With its first-round bye in hand, the 'Roos will be the last team to hit the floor in the 2016 SCAC Basketball Tournament. Austin College plays the winner of Schreiner and Centenary in Saturday's second semifinal matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT. 

Schreiner University (12-12 overall; 10-4 SCAC), who enters this year's tournament as the No. 3 seed, is on a nice little run of its own having won three straight and seven of its last 10. With last Saturday's 75-66 victory over then #24 Trinity, the Mountaineers established a new school record in the NCAA era for conference wins in a single-season. Coach Temaine Wright's squad attacks the offensive glass, leading the league in offensive rebounds with 15.3 per game. Senior guard Kelsie Jackson is averaging 14.4 points per game (fourth in the SCAC) and leads the league with 52 three-point field goals made. Junior guard Sabriyyah Fennell is averaging 9.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. Schreiner opens tournament play with a quarterfinal matchup against the No. 6 seed and tournament host Centenary College. The Mountaineers swept the regular season series from the Ladies, winning 73-63 on Jan. 8 in Shreveport and 78-58 on Feb. 12 in Kerrville. Schreiner has never lost a first-round SCAC tournament game, posting a perfect 2-0 mark in its short time in the conference, and lost to the eventual champion in each of its appearances (Texas Lutheran in 2014 and Southwestern in 2015). A date with No. 2 seed Austin College on Saturday awaits Schreiner should the Mountaineers advance past Friday's 7 p.m. quarterfinal contest against Centenary.

Texas Lutheran University enters the 2016 SCAC tournament as the No. 4 seed after posting an overall record of 14-11 and 10-4 conference mark. Last year, the 2014 tournament champs were defeated by Trinity, 91-78, in the semifinals in their attempt to repeat. After a slow start, this year's Bulldogs have won seven of their last 10, including a convincing regular season-ending 72-50 road win over its first-round opponent, Southwestern University. TLU also defeated the Pirates when they played in Seguin, 86-71, on Jan. 2. Leading the way for Coach Mel Dixon's Bulldogs is junior forward Savannah Hight who is averaging 12.7 points (sixth in the SCAC) and 4.7 rebounds per game. She leads the SCAC in field goal percentage (50.9 percent) and is second in free-throw percentage (79.8 percent). Junior forward Kristen Lye follows closely behind as she averages 11.8 points (seventh in the SCAC) and 7.9 rebounds (second in the SCAC) per game. Senior guard Taylor Dydalewicz, the reigning SCAC Player-of-the-Year, adds to the Bulldog attack with 10.6 points per game. If the Bulldogs advance past the Pirates in Friday's 5 p.m. quarterfinal contest, they would play top-seeded Trinity at 5 p.m. on Saturday. 

The defending conference tournament champions, Southwestern University enters the 2016 championships as the fifth seed after posting an overall record of 8-17; 5-9 in league play. A lot has changed from a year ago as the Pirates are now led by first-year head coach Lori Morris and are without several of the key pieces that helped charge last season's title run. Some things, however, have not changed as, for the second consecutive year, Southwestern posted the best rebounding margin in the league - averaging +5.6 more boards per game than their opponents in 2016. Senior guard Audrey Garcia is also back to lead the Pirates after averaging 14.6 points (third in the SCAC), 2.6 assists (sixth in the SCAC) and 2.0 steals (second in the SCAC) per game during the regular season. She also leads the league in free throw percentage (82.7 percent) and minutes played per game (34.7). Junior guard Olivia Podaras averages 11.2 points (ninth in the SCAC) and 2.6 assists (eighth in the SCAC) per game while first-year guard Tori Carraway is third in the SCAC with 6.8 rebounds per contest. Southwestern opens defense of its 2015 tournament crown with a first-round matchup against Texas Lutheran, a team they were swept by during the regular season. If the Pirates were to advance to the semifinal round, it would set up a rematch of last year's championship game with Trinity at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

As the host school, Centenary College (9-16 overall; 3-11 SCAC) will be the sixth seed for this year's event. Inheriting a program that had lost 50 straight games, first-year head coach Justin LeBlanc made an immediate impact and led the Ladies to the most regular season wins in a single season since the 2001-02 campaign. Freshman guard Jasmine Morris is second in the league in scoring (14.8 points per game) and senior forward Briana Edwards leads the SCAC in both rebounding (9.2 per game) and blocked shots (3.1 per game) and averages 10.1 points per game. Junior guard DeiAnna Hall averages 10.2 points, 1.9 steals (fourth in the SCAC) and 2.2 assists per game. Centenary opens tournament play with a quarterfinal matchup against the No. 3 seed Schreiner. The Mountaineers swept the regular season series from the Ladies, winning 73-63 on Jan. 8 in Shreveport and 78-58 on Feb. 12 in Kerrville. In their two previous SCAC postseason appearances (2013 and 2014), the Ladies were defeated in the first round.

Tournament action gets underway on Friday beginning at 5 p.m. CT. The entire tournament schedule is listed below.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26
SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament - hosted by Centenary College
Game 1 - No. 4 Texas Lutheran University vs. No. 5 Southwestern University - 5 p.m.
Game 2 - No. 3 Schreiner University vs. No. 6 Centenary College - 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27
SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament - hosted by Centenary College
Game 3 - No. 1 Trinity University vs. Game 1 Winner - 5 p.m.
Game 4 - No. 2 Austin College vs. Game 2 Winner - 7 p.m.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28
SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament - hosted by Centenary College
Game 5 - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner – 2:30 p.m.

PAST SCAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS
2015 - Southwestern University (MVP - Jordan Owens, Southwestern)
2014 - Texas Lutheran University (MVP - Karisa Cantu, Texas Lutheran)
2013 - Trinity University (MVP - Libby Kruse, Trinity)
2012 - Centre College (MVP - Maggie Prewitt, Centre)
2011 - DePauw University (MVP - Katie Mathews, DePauw)
2010 - DePauw University (MVP - Jenna Fernandez, DePauw)
2009 - Oglethorpe University (MVP - Tina Grace, Oglethorpe)
2008 - DePauw University (MVP - Gretchen Haehl, DePauw)
2007 - DePauw University (MVP - Liz Bondi, DePauw)
2006 - DePauw University (MVP - Liz Bondi, DePauw)
2005 - Trinity University (MVP - Tara Rohde, Trinity)
2004 - DePauw University (MVP - Sarah Zondor, DePauw)
2003 - Trinity University (MVP - Melissa Carl, Trinity) 

*The SCAC did not conduct a postseason basketball tournament prior to the 2002-2003 season; the league champion was determined by regular season finish.