Top 20 Moments - Women's Basketball

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #20
February 20, 2009
Oglethorpe University senior Anna Findley becomes the SCAC’s all-time leader – man or woman – for three-point field goals made in a career. Findley, who broke the women’s record January 30 against Colorado College, adds five more in a loss to DePauw University to take her to 293 career three-point field goals. Her 293 break Oglethorpe standout Josh Burr’s 288 from 2002-03 through 2005-06. Findley, who would finish her career with 313 three-pointers, also graduates as the second-leading scorer in conference history behind teammate Katie Kulavic. Findley scored 1,864 career points as she and Kulavic combine for 3,816 points in their four-years together at Oglethorpe - a SCAC record (men's or women's) for most combined points scored by teammates in a career.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #19
March 2, 2008
At the 2008 SCAC Women's Basketball championship game, seventh-ranked DePauw University claims its third straight tournament title and fourth in six years with a 72-69 victory over 24th-ranked Oglethorpe University. In that title game, tournament MVP Gretchen Haehl stole the ball with 0.3 seconds remaining and hit two free throws to give the Tigers a 3-point lead. Oglethorpe, along with Trinity University who lost to the Petrels by three points in the semifinals, receive at-large berths to the NCAA tournament - marking the second time in three years and third time overall that the SCAC has three teams qualify for the national tournament.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #18
February 26, 2006
Behind tournament MVP Liz Bondi’s 22 points, the fifth-ranked DePauw University women's basketball team advance to the NCAA Division III Championship for the third straight year and seventh time in the last 11 years after a 67-65 victory over Trinity University in the 2006 SCAC title game. The win was the Tigers' 26th consecutive as they improved to a school-record 27 wins against just one loss. The game featured 10 ties and 12 lead changes between the two teams who have met for all four of the SCAC titles since the tournament began in 2003.

In an announcement made the following day, the SCAC sends a league record-tying three women’s teams to the 2006 NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament – DePauw (AQ), Trinity (at-large) and first-time national tournament attendee, Oglethorpe University (at-large).

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #17
February 26, 2000
In the tightest race in the history of SCAC women’s basketball, three teams - DePauw University, Hendrix College and Trinity University - are tied for the league lead at 14-3 and Sewanee-The University of the South is one game back at 13-4 with one game to be played. On the final day of the regular season, Sewanee defeats Trinity 100-86, Hendrix defeats Rhodes 68-58 and DePauw defeats Oglethorpe 89-67. Hendrix and DePauw finish as co-champions at 15-3 and Sewanee and Trinity are one game back at 14-4. Hendrix wins the tiebreaker with DePauw and gets the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The 1999-2000 season also marks the first time in league history that three women’s teams finished the regular season with 20+ wins.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #16
February 28, 1996
Although the SCAC places a record three teams in the 1996 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament, two of those teams are bracketed together for a first round match-up. In a first-ever NCAA tournament contest involving two SCAC women's teams, Millsaps College - behind 20 points and 12 rebounds from junior forward Kim Weaver - defeats Hendrix College, 65-57, in Jackson, Miss., on the home floor of the Majors.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #15
January 16, 2000
DePauw University's record 25-game conference winning streak comes to an end with a 61-56 loss to Trinity University in San Antonio. The DePauw women went 18-0 in their first year in the league (1998-1999) and had won their first seven games of the 1999-2000 season before Sunday afternoon’s defeat in the battle of the Tigers. Before joining the SCAC in 1998-1999, DePauw had won its last 18 games in the ICAC, putting its total consecutive conference game streak at 43 before Sunday’s loss.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #14
December 7, 2001
Heather Francoeur of Oglethorpe University scores a then single-game SCAC women’s record 45 points in Oglethorpe’s 125-115 overtime victory over Wesleyan (Ga.) College. The previous conference record of 42 points was established by Jennifer Warren of Trinity University in a February 19, 1995 contest against Centre College. The 240 points scored by the two teams set a new Division III women's basketball record for combined points in a single-game. The old mark was 234 (Susquehanna University defeated Moravian 124-110 in double overtime February 23, 1995).

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #13
March 1, 1995
Both SCAC entries in the 1995 Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament drop their first-round games. Trinity University loses 90-72 to Maryville (Tenn.) College and Millsaps College falls 95-77 to Emory (Ga.) University. Although both games end in defeats, it was a historic night for women’s basketball in the conference. Trinity’s and Millsaps’ women’s teams played in the first-ever post-season national tournament games in the SCAC-era. Trinity’s head coach Becky Geyer is later named the Molten/Women’s DIII News National Coach-of-the-Year by Women’s DIII News - becoming just the second coach in SCAC history to earn national COTY honors.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #12
February 6, 2004
Junior forward Julie Colantoni of Oglethorpe University sets a new SCAC women’s single-scoring mark with her 47-point outburst against Rhodes College – a 116-113 triple overtime contest won by the Lynx. Colantoni was 16-of-25 from the field and 15-of-21 from the free-throw line. Rhodes’ sophomore Taylor Cook finished with a school-record 42 points. The game remains the highest scoring conference game (229 combined points) ever played and the second-highest scoring game involving any conference team. It is also just one of two triple-overtime games in SCAC women’s basketball history – with the other, ironically, occurring just nine days later between Sewanee and Southwestern (an 80-76 victory by Southwestern).

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #11
February 6, 2010
Austin College senior Katy Williams becomes the SCAC’s all-time leading rebounder after a 31-point, 16-rebound performance in an 87-70 win over visiting Colorado College. Williams broke Trinity’s Krista Prato Matthews’ career record of 1,009 and finished her career with 1,083 rebounds.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #10
February 10, 2006
The fifth-ranked DePauw University women jump out to a 31-4 lead over the first 15 minutes and never look back in an 83-31 conference win at Centre College. The victory was the 21st straight for the Tigers and set a new SCAC consecutive wins record. DePauw extended that streak throughout the rest of the regular season, the SCAC tournament and into the NCAA tournament before seeing it come to an end on March 11 at the Great Lakes/Central sectional final. The fourth-ranked Tigers dropped a 76-60 decision to sixth-ranked Hope College as the two teams entered the contest with the nation's longest win streaks at 28 (DePauw) and 27 (Hope) straight games.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #9
March 10, 2007
DePauw University uses a 14-0 second-half run in a 3:38 stretch to push a four-point lead to 18 on the way to a 74-61 sectional final win over Calvin (Mich.) College in the 2007 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament – propelling the 29-3 Tigers to the Final Four for the second time in six years (2002).

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #8
March 15, 2008
Oglethorpe University becomes the third different women’s basketball team from the SCAC in the decade to advance to the Final Four with a 98-86 victory over Kean (N.J.) University in the sectional final in Union, N.J. Oglethorpe advanced to the Elite Eight the night before, knocking off William Smith (N.Y.) College, 69-63, behind 23 points from Katie Kulavic.

In the sectional final win over Kean, junior guard Anna Findley had a game for the ages, scoring 44 points on 13 of 22 shooting, including 8 of 10 from three-point range, to lead the Petrels to the Final Four. DePauw University failed to make it two SCAC teams in the Final Four, falling to UW-Whitewater, 83-30, in the sectional final on the Warhawks’ home floor.

Oglethorpe would go on to finish in fourth place at the national championships (which are played at snowy Hope College in Holland, Mich.), losing to Messiah (Pa.) College, 80-60, in the national semifinals and 80-67 to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the consolation contest. The Petrels end the most successful season in program history with a 27-7 mark.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #7
March 14-15, 2003
Trinity University travels to the home court of undefeated Hardin-Simmons (Tex.) University and upsets the top-ranked Cowgirls, 67-61, in sectional play of the 2003 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Tigers trailed just once the entire contest and led by as many as 16 in the first half. The next evening, leading 29-28 at the half, Trinity runs away in the final period and thrashes fourth-ranked Washington (Mo.) University, 76-57, in the sectional final. Senior center Megan Selmon posts her second double-double of the postseason with 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Tigers roll to the Final Four - the second-consecutive year that a SCAC women’s team has made it to the national semifinals.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #6
March 8-9, 2002
For the second straight evening the eighth-ranked DePauw University women knock off a higher-ranked team and become the first SCAC basketball team - men's or women's - to advance to a NCAA national semifinal. A night after shooting 64 percent from the fiefld in defeating fourth-ranked Hardin-Simmons (Tex.) University, 84-60, in the sectional round, the Tigers eliminated the host school, second-ranked Wilmington (Ohio) College, 88-70, to win the sectional and advance to the 2002 NCAA Division III Women's Final Four, which is being hosted just 50 miles from the DePauw campus by fellow SCAC member, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. Sectional MVP Sarah MacKay scored 21 points and Katie Imborek added a career-high 20 points in the win against Wilmington.

The Tigers dream of the first national championship in school history came to an end six days later with a 69-54 loss to St. Lawrence (N.Y.) University in the second national semifinal game at a packed Hulbert Arena. DePauw rebounded to take third-place with a 65-58 victory over Marymount (Va.) University in the national consolation game. DePauw head coach Kris Huffman, who led the Tigers into the Division III national semifinals for the first time in school history, was named the Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division III Coach of the Year in an announcement made at the Final Four.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #5
June 15, 2007
Following a year in which she won an individual national championship in tennis and was an all-American forward and Final Four Most Outstanding Player on the national championship basketball team, DePauw University's Liz Bondi is named the 2007 Honda Division III Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among Division III schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #4
February 22, 2009
Oglethorpe University senior guard Katie Kulavic becomes the SCAC’s all-time leading scorer in the Stormy Petrels’ 79-75 win at Centre College. With 5:22 remaining in the second half and off an assist from Tina Grace, Kulavic drained a three-pointer to notch her 30th point of the game and 1,847th of her career - surpassing the career total of Tori Huggins (2003/04-2006/07). Huggins scored 1,844 points during her four-year career at Hendrix College. Kulavic ends her illustrious career with 1,952 points - the most points scored by any basketball player (man or woman) in SCAC history.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #3
March 11, 2009
After being selected as the 10th finalist in SCAC history, Melanie Auguste of Colorado College is named the winner of the 2009 Jostens Trophy which recognizes the most outstanding women's Division III basketball player of the year. She becomes the second player in SCAC history win the award (Tara Rhode of Trinity – 2005). Auguste was the first player in SCAC history to lead the league in scoring (20.0 points per game) and assists (7.0). She finished her career as the program's all-time leader with 612 assists and 243 steals. She also ranks No. 3 with 1,587 points and 102 three-point baskets, and is No. 4 with 827 rebounds. Auguste holds a 3.74 GPA in economics and is a nominee for a Rhodes scholarship.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #2
March 8, 2005
Trinity University's Tara Rohde, a 6-2 senior center from Norman, Okla., is named the winner of the 2005 Jostens Award – the first SCAC student-athlete to earn the prestigious honor. The award honors the most outstanding men and women's Division III basketball players of the year, and takes into account basketball ability, academic prowess and community service. The political science and economics major posted an impressive 3.87 GPA, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Blue Key National Honor Society and a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She was named a third team Verizon CoSIDA third team all-district all-American in 2003-04.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL - MOMENT #1
It's like being asked, as a parent of multiple children, to choose your favorite.

In the only team sport where the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference has more than one national champion, how could you possibly choose which women's basketball title is more important?

Sure, Trinity University was the first to wear the crown. The unranked Tigers made an improbable run to the 2003 national title, culminating with a 60-58 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University in the title game as a baseline jumper by Allison Wooley with 11 seconds remaining provided the final margin. But how can you not recognize DePauw University's 2007 championship run when the Tigers rallied from a 10-point deficit in the semifinals behind a 28-point effort from Liz Bondi and then held off Washington (Mo.) University, 55-52, in the championship game?

March 21-22, 2003
One night after defeating the University of Rochester, 63-54, in the national semifinals, Trinity University jumped out to a 17-point second half lead and had to hold on for a 60-58 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University in the national championship game of the 2003 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championships Saturday night at Hulbert Arena on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Tournament MVP Allison Wooley's baseline jump shot with :11 remaining proves to be the game-winner for the Tigers.

Trinity, which had never won a NCAA women's basketball playoff game before its 2003 tournament appearance, finished the season with a 28-5 record and winners of 23 of its last 24 games. The national championship was just the third national title for a SCAC team in any sport - Trinity won both the men's and women's tennis championship in 2000. Tiger head coach Becky Geyer is named Molten/Women's DIII News Coach of the Year.

March 16-17, 2007
After the ninth-ranked DePauw University women rallied from a 10-point deficit and advanced with a 67-61 victory over 10th-ranked Mary Washington University in the 2007 national semifinals the previous evening, the Tigers earned the University’s first team national championship with a 55-52 victory over 11th-ranked Washington (Mo.) University at the Blake Arena on the Springfield College campus.

After scoring 28 points in the semifinal game, senior forward Liz Bondi, who was selected as the DIII Championships Most Outstanding Player, just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

Over the next week, several postseason awards rolled in for DePauw. Head Coach Kris Huffman was named the Division III Coach of the Year by both D3hoops.com and D3News, and senior forward Liz Bondi was a second team all-America selection by both D3hoops.com and DIII News as well. The Tigers finished the season with a school-record 31 wins against just three losses.

For more on the top SCAC Women's Basketball moment, including interviews with former Trinity head coach Becky Geyer, current DePauw head coach Kris Huffman and both Final Four MVPs from those championships - Trinity's Allison Wooley and DePauw's Liz Bondi - click here.