Posted: Mar 01, 2020
KERRVILLE, Texas -- The 23rd-ranked Austin College women earned their first-ever SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament title with a wire-to-wire 76-67 victory over 12th-ranked Trinity Sunday afternoon at the Athletic and Event Center on the campus of Schreiner University. Official Tournament Website | Post-game interview w/Austin College | Women's Tournament Stats
All-Tournament honoree Kacie West had a team-high 20 points to lead the 'Roos and Tournament MVP Natalie McCoy came off the bench to add 16 points and six rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- With the scored tied at 10, Austin College outscored Trinity 15-5 the final 5:37 of the first quarter to take a 25-15. The 'Roos hit on 4 of 6 three pointers in the opening period while Trinity was 0 for 6.
- A Reagan Chiaverini layup extended Austin College's lead to 29-15 with 7:34 remaining in the half but the Tigers went on a 10-3 run over the four minutes of clock time to trim the lead to 32-25 with 3:34 remaining.
- Austin College closed the half on a 7-2 run and extended its lead to 12 at 39-27.
- Trinity went on a 7-0 late in the third quarter and closed the score to 49-47 after a steal and layup by Julia Ackerman with 1:23 remaining. Ann Savage hit a huge three-pointer on the 'Roos next possession to give Austin College the 52-47 lead with 1:18 remaining in the third, and AC entered the final period holding a 54-48 advantage.
- Austin College scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to take a 64-48 lead, but Trinity had one last run in it, outscoring the 'Roos 18-7 over the next four and a half minutes to cut the deficit to 71-66. That would be as close as the Tigers would get and Austin College sank five of six free throws down the stretch to ice the win.
- Austin College held Trinity, who sported the league's best field goal percentage coming into the game at 45.6 percent, to just 35.7 percent (25-70) from the field, including 12.9 percent (4-31) from three-point range - the team's lowest output of the season. Austin College shot 43.8 percent (21-48) from the field and 55.6 percent (10-18) from distance - their best performance of the season.
AUSTIN COLLEGE STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Kacie West: 20 points, four rebounds
- Natalie McCoy: 16 points, six rebounds
- Reagan Chiaverini: 13 points, six rebounds
- Ann Savage: 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists
TRINITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Abby Holland: 29 points, 10 rebounds, two steals
- Julia Ackerman: 15 points, two rebounds, two assists, two steals
- Jordan Rudd: 14 points, three rebounds
NOTABLES
- This was Austin College's first appearance in the SCAC final while Trinity slipps to 6-7 in tournament finals.
- This was the fourth time in the six-team bracket era (2013-forward) that the top two seeds have met in the tournament final with this being the first time the two seed has gotten the better of the top seed.
- With Centenary men and Austin College women winning their first-ever conference titles, it became just the second time since the first year of the tournament (2003) that both teams won their first-ever basketball tournament championship the same day. In 2015, the Texas Lutheran men and the Southwestern women captured their first-ever SCAC hoops crowns.
- The all-tournament team consisted of Cecily Woolfolk of Southwestern, Julia Ackerman and Abby Holland of Trinity; and Kacie West, Reagan Chiaverini and Natalie McCoy of Austin College.
- McCoy was named tournament MVP.
UP NEXT
Austin College, winner of the SCAC's automatic bid, improves to 23-4 on the season and will find out its NCAA Tournament first-round matchup on Monday when the NCAA announces the 2020 national bracket. Trinity (23-4), the top team in the most recent South Region rankings, will await word of an at-large berth. If the SCAC were to get two teams in the tournament, it would be the first time the league received multiple bids since Oglethorpe earned the league's AQ and DePauw received an at-large bid.
Austin College, winner of the SCAC's automatic bid, improves to 23-4 on the season and will find out its NCAA Tournament first-round matchup on Monday when the NCAA announces the 2020 national bracket. Trinity (23-4), the top team in the most recent South Region rankings, will await word of an at-large berth. If the SCAC were to get two teams in the tournament, it would be the first time the league received multiple bids since Oglethorpe earned the league's AQ and DePauw received an at-large bid.
