SCAC Women's Basketball Recap - Week 1

SCAC Women's Basketball Recap - Week 1

Complete Release

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The 2021 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball season tipped off last weekend as Austin College, Schreiner, Texas Lutheran and Trinity all swept their two game conference series against Dallas, Southwestern, Centenary and St. Thomas respectively.

This year, teams will play a 12-game conference-only schedule with three doubleheader road weekends and three doubleheader home weekends. The top eight teams, based on regular season results, will qualify for the 2021 SCAC Tournament.

The defending SCAC Tournament Champions, the Austin College ‘Roos opened up their season 2-0 for the second time in three years after defeating Dallas at home by 20 points last Friday night and 34 points on Saturday. Austin College has now beaten Dallas in 10-straight regular season competitions dating back to the 2015-16 season. Senior forward Ally Longaker led the way for the ‘Roos, averaging a double-double on the weekend with 15.5 points and 10 rebounds per game. In the opener, Longaker posted a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. She also added seven blocks, four assists and one steal in the two wins. Dallas’ Camille Fowler paced the Crusaders on the weekend, averaging 12 points, 3.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game.

Schreiner is off to its first 2-0 start since joining the SCAC after knocking off Southwestern on the road, 56-53, on Friday night and 71-53 on Saturday. It marked the third and fourth-straight regular season victories for the Mountaineers over the Pirates, and the fourth time in the last seven seasons that Schreiner has opened its SCAC schedule a perfect 2-0. In the opener, Miranda Vallejo scored a team-high 16 points, while Zahra Cross led the way in game two with 23 points. Sydney Williams was outstanding on the glass averaging 10 boards a night after collecting 13 in game one and seven in game two. Lauren Fulenwider averaged 17 points on 34.4 percent shooting in the opening weekend for the Pirates.

Texas Lutheran sprinted to a perfect 2-0 mark in conference play for the second time in the last three years after earning road victories over Centenary. The Bulldogs defeated the Ladies, 87-39, on Friday and then earned a nine-point victory on Saturday. Senior guard Olivia Balderas posted consecutive career-highs in scoring, pouring in 16 points on four-for-five from three-point range on Friday, before backing that up with an 18-point performance with six made three-pointers (6-10) on Saturday. Over the two games she averaged 17.0 points and made 10 of 15 three-point attempts (.667). Freshman guard Addy Tremie posted an impressive 18 points in her Ladies’ debut on Saturday.

For the fourth time in the last six seasons, Trinity is 2-0 after defeating St. Thomas twice over the weekend. The Tigers won the opener, 73-38, before defeating the Celts, 82-55, on Saturday. Defensively, Trinity limited St. Thomas to just 46.5 points per game and held the Celts to 30.4 percent shooting from the field. Sophomore Maggie Shipley, who led the team with 25 total points on the weekend, paced the Tigers with 15 in the opener and junior Hailey Coleman posted a team-high 12 points on Saturday afternoon. Kelly Simmons led the way for Trinity on the boards in both games, collecting 11 rebounds on Friday and seven on Saturday. Zariah McInnis averaged 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game to lead the way for St. Thomas.

SCAC Women’s Basketball continues this weekend, highlighted by Colorado College opening its season on the road against Trinity on Friday night. Other conference double-headers on the schedule include Centenary traveling to Schreiner, Southwestern visiting Austin College and Dallas hosting St. Thomas. 

This Week's Leaders:

Points/game (17.0): Olivia Balderas, Texas Lutheran; Lauren Fulenwider, Southwestern 
Rebounds/game (10.0): Sydney Williams, Schreiner; Ally Longaker, Austin College
Assists/game (6.0): Reagan Chiaverini, Austin College
*FG percentage (81.8): Hailey Coleman, Trinity University (9-11)

*minimum of 4 FGs made per game

This Week's Results:

Date Away Home Status Links
January
Fri. 15 Schreiner * 56 Southwestern (Tex.) 53 Final
  Trinity (Tex.) * 73 St. Thomas (Tex.) 38 Final
  Dallas * 73 Austin College 93 Final
  Texas Lutheran * 87 Centenary (La.) 39 Final
Sat. 16 Schreiner * 71 Southwestern (Tex.) 53 Final
  Texas Lutheran * 70 Centenary (La.) 61 Final
  Trinity (Tex.) * 82 St. Thomas (Tex.) 55 Final
  Dallas * 52 Austin College 86 Final
* Conference

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