SUWANEE, Ga. - Home court advantage continues to loom large as the Western Division went 9-3 over the weekend against the Eastern Division. Heading into the final weekend of cross-divisional play the Western Division holds an overall record against the Eastern Division 13-11.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College swept Sewanee and Oglethorpe over the weekend to improve to 7-9 overall and 5-4 in SCAC play, topping Sewanee by a final of 79-62 before topping Oglethorpe 58-49. Against Sewanee, Erica McDaniel scored 19 points and grabbed five boards and Erin Riley added 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists as the ‘Roos led by as many as 20 points. Shayna Clardy also added 16 points and five assists in the win. Against Oglethorpe, Austin College led by as much as 17 and held off a late charge by the Stormy Petrels to take the nine point victory behind 18 points, including 3-of-6 three point shooting from Kersti Marusich. Riley grabbed 10 boards and added seven points in the win and Clardy and Brooke Melton each scored nine points. Austin College heads on the road this weekend to face Centre and DePauw.
Birmingham-Southern split this weekend on the road, defeating Millsaps on Friday, 63-46, but falling to Hendrix on Sunday, 71-65. Against Hendrix, sophomore Caroline King scored a career-high 15 points. The Panthers return home this weekend, taking on Southwestern, Friday, and Trinity, Saturday, both at 6 p.m.
Centre split a pair of SCAC road contests falling 77-73 to Southwestern Friday night and then bouncing back for a 67-56 win over Trinity Saturday night. The Colonels allowed Southwestern to shooting 42.4% (25-61), which marks the seventh time this season an opponent has finished a game at 40.0% or higher. Centre is 1-6 in those games. In their win over Trinity, the Tigers shot only 27.9% (17-61), which marks the fifth time an opponent has shot under 30.0%. Centre is 5-0 in those games and 11-0 in games in which its opponent shoots under 40.0%. The Colonels, now 12-6 overall and 6-3 in the SCAC will play road games against Colorado and Austin this week.
#11 DePauw splits its two games after dropping a 68-59 decision at Trinity and coming back with a 77-47 win at Southwestern. The loss at Trinity snapped the Tigers' 9-game win streak and 21-game streak in SCAC games. In that contest, DePauw battled back from an eight-point deficit to tie the game at 57-57, but Trinity closed the contest with an 11-2 run. Lauren Goff paced the Tigers with 16 points, while Katie Aldrich added 13. Kate Walker finished with 12 and Katie Mathews 10. Aldrich grabbed 10 rebounds for the double-double. Mathews and Walker each dished out five assists in the loss. DePauw entered the week ranked third in the nation in both rebound margin and fewest turnovers per game, but the Tigers were outrebounded for just the second time all year, 37-34, and committed 20 turnovers. The next evening, DePauw held Southwestern to its season low in points in notching the win. Southwestern scored the game's first points, but DePauw's Goff knocked down a three-pointer and the Tigers never trailed again. DePauw expanded a seven-point lead to 17 with a 12-2 run in the first half and led by as many as 28 on the way to a 47-21 lead at the intermission. Four DePauw players scored in double figures led by Aldrich with 17. Goff hit four threes for 12 points, while Walker also scored 12 and Ellie Pearson added 10. Pearson snagged 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season and Aldrich grabbed eight boards. Mathews dished out a career-high nine assists with just one turnover. DePauw shot 45.2 percent for the game including 52.6 percent in the first half, while the Pirates connected on just 27.8 percent and missed on all 10 three-point attempts. The Tigers also held a 48-33 edge on the glass and committed just seven turnovers.
Millsaps (7-9, 4-5) split a pair of games against Eastern foes last weekend, falling 46-63 to Birmingham-Southern before rebounding against Rhodes 66-48, a win that snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Lynx dating back to the 2001-02 season. The Majors started strong on Friday, jumping out to a quick 6-2 lead off a three from Kristin Salmon. Unfortunately for the Majors, that would be their largest, and last, lead of the game. The Panthers retook the lead 9-11 with 13:00 minutes in the half and never trailed again. Sunday, the Majors were in the driver’s seat from start to finish thanks to a 13-point advantage at the break. Shante Morton got the first points off the glass on the Majors' second possession that were quickly followed by back-to-back threes from Shatoya White and Lovie Love. The Lynx got no closer than five the remainder of the game. The Majors took a 31-18 lead into the break and never looked back. The Majors will return to the road this weekend as they travel over to Atlanta on Friday to face the Petrels before heading up to Sewanee on Sunday for a match-up with the Tigers. Games are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. respectively.
Oglethorpe dropped road contests at Colorado (68-62) and Austin (58-49) this past weekend. Against Colorado, the two teams traded blows all night long but it was the Tigers who were able to make the shots down the stretch to earn the win. The Petrels displayed measured toughness on the road as they fell behind Colorado 20-10 in a difficult first 8 minutes of the game before rallying to put the Tigers on notice that this would be a battle. Oglethorpe closed the half on an 18-7 run that was capped by a Kelley Reeves three-pointer to send the Petrels into the break with a 28-27 advantage. The second half featured 7 lead changes as the teams traded buckets for the first 6 minutes of the half. Oglethorpe took their last lead of the game at 14:28 when Riley Cerone hit a jumper to give the Petrels a 38-37 edge. The Tigers, however, would slowly begin to pull away from the Petrels, and, after a 26-15 spurt, opened up a 63-53 cushion with 4:28 to play. Oglethorpe scored 6 straight to trim the lead down to four but could not muster another rally in the final two minutes as Colorado went on to victory. Katie Weeks and Morgan Loughrey each scored 13 points and grabbed 3 rebounds to lead the Petrels. Sarah Giles netted 7 points, grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds and blocked 3 shots while Sarah Jones turned in 9 points and 4 assists. Fives were wild for Kelley Reeves as she posted 5 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the narrow defeat. Against Austin, the Petrels fell behind the 'Roos by 14 at halftime and were foiled by shaky free throw shooting (6 of 17) in their attempt to climb back into the contest in the second half. The Petrels struggled from the field at the onset, making only 7 of their 25 shots (28%) in the first half, and headed into intermission trailing the 'Roos, 34-20. Despite Oglethorpe's best efforts to climb back into the game, Austin College made the plays down the stretch to earn the win. The Petrels comeback bid was also thwarted at the charity stripe, where they were only 4 of 12 in the second half. The Petrels committed 17 turnovers and made only 8 assists on the afternoon en route to defeat. Katie Weeks led the Petrels with 10 points and 5 rebounds while senior Chelsea MacDonald added 8 points and 5 rebounds of her own. The Petrels are now 4-13 on the season and will host Millsaps at 6:00 p.m. this Friday.
Rhodes dropped their third consecutive SCAC game, falling to Millsaps 66-48 in a game played in Jackson, MS on January 23rd. Sharwil Bell led all scorers with 23 points and Amy Handelman grabbed a team high 11 rebounds. The Lynx struggled from the field connecting on only 33% of their shots (16-48). The Majors jumped out to a 31-18 halftime lead and the closest the Lynx got was 35-23 with 17:09 to play. "It was not our day, but credit Millsaps, I thought they played with great poise and made some big shots in late shot clock situations," said Lynx Head Coach Matt Dean. Rhodes falls to 5-12 on the season and 2-7 in the SCAC.
Sewanee dropped both contests during their weekend trip out west. The Tigers fell Friday night to Austin, 79-62, before losing to Colorado College, 73-55, on Sunday. Against the ‘Roos, Dani Kabbes led all scorers with 20 points, while Logan Miller finished with 15 points and four assists. Claire Elliott added 12 points and two steals in the effort and Alex Ginsburg led Sewanee in rebounding, grabbing nine boards as the Tigers were out-rebounded 47-22. Sewanee hit just 20 of 61 from the field in the contest, including a 12 of 37 clip from the 3-point line. On Sunday, the Tigers extended their skid to eight by losing to Colorado College. Newcomer Dana Middleton led the Sewanee effort with 17 points. Elliott added 14 and Kabbes chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds in the game. With the two losses, Sewanee falls to 2-14 overall and 0-9 in conference play. The Tigers will play host to Hendrix and Millsaps this weekend.
Southwestern had a tough week of games, facing two of the top teams in the East and were looking to hold onto their slight one game advantage over the rest of the pack in the West. Friday night SU led in the first half and relinquished the lead in the second until late in the game. Two breakaway layups gave the Pirates a four point advantage with 40 seconds to play and maintained the lead to win 77-73. Saturday Southwestern faced East leading DePauw and fell behind early, allowing 47 first half points, and were never able to recover as they fell 77-47. The Pirates didn't make a three point shot all night and were outrebounded 48-33. After the split Southwestern sits at 13-5 overall and 5-4 in the SCAC and are tied for first place in the West with three other teams, Hendrix, Colorado College and Austin College. Another tough road trip is in store for the Pirates this week as they head to Birmingham Southern on Friday night and Rhodes on Saturday.
Trinity opened a tough SCAC weekend with a hard-fought 68-59 win over 10th-ranked DePauw on Friday night, but then lost 56-67 to Centre on Saturday to split the weekend’s action. Trinity held on to its slim halftime lead to defeat DePauw for the first time in the last six regular season meetings, though Trinity did beat DePauw in the semifinals of the SCAC Tournament in 2009. Four scorers averaged in double figures for Trinity over the weekend, led by Nicolette Halbleib and Danielle Hubenak with 13.0 points/game. Both players also shot 40% or better from the field. Trinity will be on the road for the next two SCAC weekends, starting this weekend at Rhodes and Birmingham Southern. The Tigers swept both teams in San Antonio last year, but lost to Rhodes the last time the teams met in Memphis (2008-09). Birmingham Southern last beat Trinity in 2007-08.
