SUWANEE, Ga. - The Eastern Division took advantage of playing at home in the first of three cross-divisional weekends picking up wins in eight of the 12 games. Southwestern sits atop the Western division at 4-3 in league play while DePauw, 7-0 in conference play, heads the Eastern division now riding a nine game winning streak.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College split its
conference games over the weekend, falling to Birmingham-Southern
57-52 before toppling Rhodes by a final score of 70-48. Against
BSC, the ‘Roos got 13 points and six rebounds from Kersti
Marusich and 10 points and five boards from Spenser Cruikshank but
shot just 31% from the field, including hitting just 2-of-15 from
beyond the arc in the loss. Against Rhodes, Shayna Clardy recorded
a double double with 10 points and 12 rebounds and added four
assists while Erica McDaniel scored a team high 12 points and
Marusich and Erin Riley each chipped in with 10 in the victory. The
‘Roos hit 9-of-21 from downtown as a team, including three
treys from Angeleena Young, who also had three assists off the
bench. Austin College returns to Sherman this weekend when they
host Sewanee and Oglethorpe.
Birmingham-Southern was at home this weekend and picked up
two more wins, defeating Austin College, 57-52, Friday night, and
Colorado College, 65-44, Sunday afternoon. The Panthers have won
six straight SCAC contests, and is 9-0 at home so far this season.
The Panthers are on the road this weekend, taking on Millsaps,
Friday, and Hendrix, Sunday.
Centre won its third and fourth straight games this past weekend, defeating Hendrix 60-59 and then rallying from a five-point deficit to defeat Millsaps 48-44 to improve to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in the SCAC. The Colonels have had recent success against both teams, winning four of the last five meetings against Hendrix and six of the last seven against the Majors. Centre led by eight (56-48) with 4:20 to play against the Warriors and held on for the one-point lead. Against Millsaps, the Colonels trailed for most of the game but took a one-point lead late in the second half, a lead they would not give up, to finish with the conference victory. Centre will travel to Texas this weekend to play Southwestern and Trinity.
#11 DePauw improved to 14-2 overall and 7-0 in the SCAC with home wins over Millsaps (71-41) and Hendrix (85-68). The wins extended the Tigers' win streak to 9 straight and their SCAC win string to 21. DePauw has also won 59 straight SCAC home games. Against Millsaps, DePauw scored the game's first 16 points and put together another 13-0 run to lead 29-2. Ellie Pearson and Katie Aldrich each scored 12 points in the win, while Pearson and Katie Aldrich each grabbed eight rebounds. DePauw held a 44-23 edge on the boards. Katie Mathews and Kate Walker each dished out five assists.On Sunday, DePauw shot 59 percent in the second half and pulled away from visiting Hendrix. The Warriors jumped out to a 16-9 lead in the opening five minutes and still held a 21-15 lead before DePauw scored 13 straight to take a 28-21 advantage with 5:08 left in the half. The Warriors rallied late in the half to even the score, 39-39, at the intermission. The teams battled back-and-forth through the first seven minutes of the second half with Hendrix holding a 52-51 lead, but DePauw's Aldrich scored four straight to start a 20-2 run which gave the Tigers a 71-54 lead with 6:14 remaining and put the game out of reach. Aldrich led the Tigers with a career-high 32 points which equaled the second-highest single-game output in DePauw history. The junior scored 21 in the second half. Mathews followed with 18 points and Walker added 10. Aldrich and Pearson each grabbed eight rebounds as the Tigers held a 39-31 edge on the boards. Walker dished out four assists in the win. The Tigers shot 49.3 percent from the floor to Hendrix's 40.0 percent and DePauw committed just 10 turnovers.
Hendrix suffered two SCAC road losses this week after traveling to Centre College on Friday and then DePauw University on Sunday. The Warriors now stand at 6-9 overall and 3-9 in conference action. Junior Anna Roane brought Hendrix to within one point on a last second 3-pointer, however, Centre would survive for a thrilling 60-59 victory on Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium. Senior Christina Byler made it a five-point game with 2:15 left in regulation and Roane went 1-for-1 from the charity stripe on the Warriors’ next possession, 58-54, with 1:46 to go. Hendrix missed a pair of 3-pointers in the last minute until first year Jamie Tate hit a layup with 22 ticks left on the clock, 58-56. The Warriors were forced to foul to stop the clock and Centre drained two clutch free throws with 10 seconds left. Hendrix hustled the ball down the court and Roane made her chance from behind the arc count, 60-59, with just 00:02 showing on the clock. The Warriors fouled on the inbound but the Colonels missed on the back end of their two chances from the line and time expired as the two teams fought for the rebound. Roane led Hendrix and matched her career-high mark with 17 points. Junior Katy Ashley-Pauley added nine points and Tate paced Hendrix with nine boards. Sunday afternoon’s game against No. 10 DePauw was a tale of two halves as the Tigers outscored the Warriors 46-29 in the second half to pull away for the 85-68 win at Neal Fieldhouse. The two teams played to a 39-39 tie at the break after seven ties and six lead changes in the first half. Neither team led by more than seven points in the first 20 minutes. Hendrix and DePauw fought through five lead changes and four ties in the opening 7:17 of the second half. DePauw junior Katie Aldrich’s jumper with 12:43 left on the clock ignited a 20-3 run over a seven minute span and the Tigers would lead by at least 14 points the rest of the way. Ashley-Pauley paced the Warriors with a career-best 16 points, while Roane tallied 15 points and junior Samantha Devlin added 12 points.
Millsaps lost two on the road this week as the Majors traveled up to take on DePauw and Centre. The #10 Tigers scored first and never looked back on Friday, leading by as many as 29 in the first half. DePauw took a 47-21 lead into halftime. The Majors could never get over the first half deficit after the break, as the Tigers maintained control from start to finish, winning 71-41. Sunday's game was much closer. Neither team led by more than nine points all day. The Majors tied the game for the third time thanks to a Shante Morton layup with 2:35 remaining in the game, but they could not capitalize, with two steals followed by two turnovers in the final possessions of the game. The Colonels hit their free throws down the stretch to pull away as time expired, winning 48-44. Millsaps will return to Jackson this weekend for another pair of games against SCAC-East opponents. The Birmingham-Southern Panthers come into the Hangar Dome on Friday at 6:00 p.m. before the Rhodes Lynx close out the week on Sunday afternoon.
Oglethorpe split home contests against Southwestern and Trinity this past weekend to close out a 1-1 week. On Friday the Petrels won a 77-75 thriller over Southwestern when Chelsea MacDonald drew a foul with only .3 seconds remaining and calmly sank two free throws to lift the Petrels to victory. Oglethorpe began the game on a 7-0 run and never trailed the Pirates en route to the huge home victory. The Petrels would stretch the first half lead to as many as 14 points before a late half rally by the Pirates made it 36-32 Oglethorpe at intermission. The Petrels came out of the locker room firing again and built the lead back up to 11 before the 11-4 (3-2) Pirates made a run of their own to tighten the contest. Every time Southwestern got within striking distance of the Petrels, Oglethorpe found an answer. It looked as though Oglethorpe may have blown their chance to spring the upset late in the game when Southwestern capitalized on some missed free throws and some timely three's but the Petrels got the last shot and MacDonald drew the contact to win the game. Leading by 6 with less than 20 seconds left, Oglethorpe watched as Southwestern banked in a three-ball to cut the lead to three. Sarah Giles was immediately fouled with 13 ticks left but missed both her free throws to give the Pirates a chance. On the ensuing possession Reilly Robertson hit her second consecutive three to tie the game with 5 seconds left. MacDonald took the inbounds and drove the middle of the court where she rose for a 30 footer at the buzzer. She was fouled badly in the process and made her free throws with only .3 seconds left to seal the win. MacDonald turned in her finest performance of the season with a team-high 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds. Sarah Giles netted 18 points, grabbed 8 boards and added to her conference-leading blocks total with 3 on the night. Katie Weeks had 12 points and 6 rebounds while Kelley Reeves added 7 points and 6 assists in the uplifting win on Pinholster Court. On Saturday Oglethorpe did not have the legs to compete against Trinity and lost 88-62. The Petrels were doomed by a cold start that saw them fall behind the Tigers by double digits in the early stages of the game. Facing the deficet, Oglethorpe could not climb back into the game as Trinity dominated the glass with a 56-35 rebounding advantage. The Tigers also held the Petrels to 6 of 24 shooting (25%) from long distance while connecting on 10 of 19 (53%) of their three-balls. Kelley Reeves led the Petrels with 19 points and 3 assists. She drilled 5 of her seven shots from downtown. Freshman Ky'Laine Rogers notched a double-double with 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 13 rebounds. Katie Weeks added 12 points and 5 rebounds in the loss. Oglethorpe is now 4-11 (3-3) on the season and will face Colorado College on the road this Friday night.
Rhodes had a 2-1 week. The Lynx defeated the University of Dallas 61-57 on January 11th and Colorado College 75-72 on January 14th. Rhodes ran out of gas in their third game of the week, falling to Austin College 70-48 after shooting 28 percent from the field. The Lynx had cut the Kangaroos lead to 42-35 with 12 minutes to play, only to have Austin go on a 12-0 run over the next 5 minutes to put the game away. Lynx junior forward Sharwil Bell recorded her 6th double double of the season in the Lynx 75-72 win over Colorado College. Bell leads the SCAC in scoring (17.9 ppg), steals per game (3.0 spg) and is 3rd in rebounding (8.7 rpg).
Sewanee dropped two straight SCAC contests this weekend, falling to Trinity, 82-55, on Friday, and Southwestern, 90-54, on Saturday. Sewanee and Trinity traded baskets and kept it close for much of the first half before the Texas Tigers used a 24-1 run to close out the first half and head into the locker room with a 42-23 lead. The second half started similar to the first, with both teams trading baskets, but Sewanee couldn’t muster enough of a run to make a dent in the Trinity lead. Visiting Trinity went ahead as many as 36 before walking away with an 82-55 victory. Sewanee’s Logan Miller led all scorers with 13 points, while Dani Kabbes added 12 and Dee Bradford chipped in 11. As a team, Sewanee shot 33.9% from the field in the contest. Saturday’s game against Southwestern looked much the same before the visiting Pirates used a 17-2 run late in the first half to take a 20-point lead into the break. Sewanee was never able to recover in the second half before falling, 90-54. As a team, Sewanee shot 29% from the field, with Miller leading with 14 points. The two losses dropped the Tigers to 2-12 overall and 0-7 in SCAC play. Sewanee travels to Sherman, Texas next for a Friday match up with Austin College.
Trinity swept two SCAC road games over the weekend, defeating both Sewanee (82-55) and Oglethorpe (88-62). Three Tiger players averaged in double figures for the weekend, led by Abby Dietert’s 20.0 points/game. Nicolette Halbleib finished with 12.5 points/game and Danielle Hubenak scored 12.0 points/game for the weekend. Hubenak also averaged 8.0 assists/game over the weekend, and is just two away from reaching 400 in her career. She would be just the eighth player in SCAC history to reach that milestone. Hubenak is also now seventh at Trinity in career scoring, totaling 1,144 points in her career so far. That total puts her in the top 50 in SCAC history. Trinity will host Centre and DePauw this weekend, continuing SCAC play. The Tigers defeated Centre during the regular season last year, but Centre beat Trinity in the SCAC Tournament. DePauw has won the last five regular season meetings with DePauw, but Trinity did win in the SCAC Tournament Semifinals in 2009.
To view the entire SCAC Hoops Weekly for week eight, click here.
