Women's Basketball Recap (Week 13) - Around the SCAC
SUWANEE, Ga. - DePauw University and Hendrix College are the top seeds headed into this weekend's SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament, which is scheduled to tip-off on Friday. Quarterfinal games will be played on the campus of Belhaven College, which Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's title game at Millsaps College. This week's Hoops Weekly contains all the information you need to prepare for the 2010 SCAC Women's Basketball Tournament.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College split
its two games over the weekend, falling to Hendrix 64-59 on Friday
before topping Millsaps 71-58 on Sunday to finish the year with a
regular season record of 18-7 and earning the second seed out of
the SCAC West heading into the tournament, where they'll face
Rhodes on Friday. Katy Williams scored 16 points, grabbed 15
rebounds and handed out five assists and the 'Roos trailed by only
two points late against the Warriors but could not quite overtake
the Hendrix lead in the five point loss. Kersti Marusich added 13
points and Spenser Cruikshank added 10 points and four blocked
shots. Against Millsaps, Williams notched another double double
with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Courtney Kenisky hit 4-of-6
threes to finish with 18 points off the bench. Kersti Marusich also
scored 18 with four assists, and Cruikshank added 10 points. The
‘Roos shot 54.9% from the field as a team in the win.
Birmingham-Southern wrapped up the 2009-10 season
this weekend with two road games, and lost to Centre, 73-54, and
No. 16 DePauw, 65-39. Junior Katelyn Wilson led the Panthers
against Centre with 15 points, and freshman Alex Adams led with
eight rebounds. Against DePauw, freshman Lauren Parks led with 10
points and junior Jamie Key led with six rebounds. Adams ends the
season with team-high averages of 12.2 points and 6.3 rebounds a
game, followed by Wilson with 10.3 points a game. Sophomore Sam
Davidson led the team with 2.4 assists a game, and Wilson led with
1.32 steals a game.
Centre earned a pair of SCAC home wins to end the season on a four-game winning streak. The Colonels, which defeated Birmingham Southern 73-54 Friday and Rhodes 65-51 Sunday, finished the regular season having won seven of their last eight games to post a 17-7 overall record and 12-4 mark in the SCAC entering the conference tournament. Centre's defense limited both teams to less than 40.0% shooting on the weekend, including allowing Rhodes to shoot only 22.9% (16-70) for the game. The Colonels will enter the SCAC Tournament as the #2 seed in the East and will open against Trinity.
Colorado College saw its season come to a disappointing conclusion with a 92-66 loss at Hendrix College on Sunday. In her final game for CC, senior forward Laura Glen scored a career-high 20 points and added a team-high nine rebounds. Becky Luetjen finished with 11 points and became the 17th player in the program's history to score 400 or more in a season. She finished the year with 410 points, which ranks No. 14 on CC's single-season list. Hannah Hoopingarner reached double-figures for the third time this year with 10 points. Colorado College missed out on a chance to clinch a spot in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament by dropping a 70-60 decision at Millsaps on Friday. The Tigers committed 25 turnovers, which led to 33 points for the Majors. Collier Clegg finished with 20 points, the seventh time she reached the 20-point mark in a game this season. Luetjen finished with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. Luetjen's 220 rebounds ranks 19th on CC's single-season list, while her 31 blocked shots is the fifth-highest single-season total. Clegg completed her rookie season ranked No. 27 with 352 points, and her 63 three-point baskets is the fourth-best single-season and ninth-highest career total.
#17 DePauw extended its win streak to 18 with wins over Rhodes (64-44) and Birmingham-Southern (65-39). The wins extended the Tigers' home win streaks to 49 overall, 66 in the regular season and 54 in SCAC home games. On Friday, the Tigers led, 34-21, at halftime and built as much as a 24-point lead in the second half. Brooke Osborne paced the Tigers with 13 points, while Katie Aldrich followed with 12 and Jenna Fernandez 10. Ellie Pearson grabbed eight rebounds as the Tigers held a 40-23 edge on the boards. Katie Mathews and Kate Walker each totaled four assists. On Sunday, DePauw held Birmingham-Southern to a season-low 39 points which was 34 below their season average. The Tigers scored the final five points of the first half and went to the break with a 29-18 lead. The Panthers briefly closed the gap to nine in the first two minutes of the second half before DePauw scored 10 straight to start a 20-4 run and put the game away. Walker paced DePauw with 11 points, four assists and three steals, while Fernandez matched a season high with 11 rebounds. The Tigers held a 47-29 advantage on the boards. The game marked the final regular season home game for seniors Kristin Barrow, Danielle Boraz, Jenna Fernandez and Emily Marshall. The four have compiled a 103-16 overall record which ranks in a tie for second in Division III for wins in that time), a 53-5 SCAC mark and a 49-0 record at the Neal Fieldhouse.
Hendrix captured its first SCAC West Division
Championship with a thrilling victory over Austin College on Friday
night and then finished off the regular season with a high-scoring
win over Colorado College on Sunday. The Warriors finish the
regular season at 19-4 overall and 13-3 in conference play for its
best SCAC record in 10 years (15-3/1999-00) and fifth highest SCAC
win total in program history. Senior forward Christina Byler led
the Warriors with 26 points in the 64-59 victory on Friday. Hendrix
let its lead slip away just once early in the game, however, Austin
would not let the Warriors stretch their advantage past nine points
the entire way. Hendrix's largest lead of the first half was just
six points. The Roos finished the opening 20 minutes with an 11-5
run and eventually knotted the game at 28-28 off a jumper from
senior forward Katy Williams with 2:03 left before the break.
Hendrix took four treys in its last five possessions of the first
half and came up empty on each attempt. Neither team scored in the
last two minutes of the first half. The Warriors were out rebounded
22-16 and did not make a trip to the free throw line in the opening
20 minutes. The Roos managed to tie the game twice in the first
four minutes of the second half, however, a 10 point spree from
Byler, including back-to-back 3-bombs, made it a six-point game at
40-34 with 14:18 remaining. Austin's first year guard Courtney
Kenisky was whistled for a technical foul a minute later and Byler
made it hurt with a pair of free throws. Sophomore guard Avery
Roller raced down the court for a fast break layup after senior
forward Lindsay Merritt stripped her opponent with 9:10 to go,
putting Hendrix up by a game-high nine points at 51-42. The Roos
answered with a 7-0 run over a 2:45 span and the game would stay
within five points for the rest of regulation. A 3-pointer from
sophomore guard Angeleena Young brought the Roos back to within two
points, 61-59, with just 40 seconds left. Hendrix burned two time
outs and eventually came up with a play that saw senior point guard
Amanda Morris feed Byler on the right block. Byler put a spin move
on her defender and sank the layup to put Hendrix up 63-59 with 13
ticks left on the scoreboard. After a closely contested first half,
Hendrix College exploded out of the locker room with 56 second-half
points and dialed up 9-of-12 shooting from 3-point land to rack up
a 92-66 regular season finalé win over Colorado at Grove
Gymnasium. Neither team led by more than eight points in the first
half and the first 10 minutes of action stayed within four points.
Hendrix grabbed its final lead change on a 3-pointer from Byler
with 4:28 left before the break. Colorado managed to tie the game
once more on a pair of free throws with 3:14 to go, however,
Hendrix closed the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 36-28
advantage at the break. We will never know what Hendrix head coach,
Thad McCracken, said to get his team fired up in the locker room,
but whatever he said worked as the Warriors went on a tear after
intermission. Hendrix went on a 35-8 run to start the second half
and during that span shot 7-of-11 from behind the arc. Colorado
would not get closer than 22 points to Hendrix's advantage for the
remainder of the game.
Millsaps finally recorded its first win of the
season as they split the final SCAC homestand of the regular season
to finish 1-24 overall and 1-15 in the SCAC. The Majors saved their
best game of the year for the final weekend in front of an ecstatic
crowd Friday night at The Hangar Dome as it defeated visiting
Colorado College 70-60 for its first win. Shante' Morton led all
scorers with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting while Sarah Spann added
a career-high 17 points as Millsaps shot 44 percent from the floor
in the contest. Sunday afternoon, the Majors could not come up with
a repeat performance as visiting Austin College claimed the
conference victory in the final game of the regular season at home,
71-58. Morton and Jasmine Harbor led the Majors offensively with 18
and 13 points, respectively while Deonna Walton finished with eight
points and a team-leading seven rebounds.
Oglethorpe finished its regular season by knocking
off Sewanee o0n Saturday night, 63-61. Down by nine in the second
half, the Petrels rallied down the stretch to send the homecoming
crowd away happy. The Petrels jumped out to an early four point
lead at the 14:52 mark of the first half before Sewanee battled
back to take a 32-27 lead into the locker room. The Tigers
continued to stretch the lead out until they held a 40-31 lead with
only 15:42 remaining in the contest. That's when Oglethorpe dug in.
The Petrels went on a 15-4 run over the next 6:15 to take a 46-44
lead with 9:15 to play. From there, the two teams traded baskets
the rest of the way. Sewanee led 57-54 with 3:05 remaining, but two
straight baskets by Chelsea MacDonald and Kristin Zipkin game the
Petrels a one-point lead. The Tigers tied the game 61-61 with 35
seconds left, but on Oglethorpe's next possession, Sarah Giles was
fouled with seven seconds remaining. She hit both free throws to
give the Petrels a 63-61 lead, and they held on defensively from
there. The Petrel bench outscored the Tigers' bench 22-9 and held
the edge in the paint 24-18. The win moves the Petrels to 10-15 on
the year, 4-11 in SCAC play, to close out the regular season.
Oglethorpe will be playing in next weekend's SCAC Tournament as the
four seed out of the East Division. They will play Hendrix, the top
seed out of the West, at 6 p.m. Central time on Friday in the
tournament quarterfinals.
Rhodes enters the 2010 SCAC tournament on a three game losing streak. The Lynx ended the 2010 regular season with losses to nationally ranked DePauw and to the number two seed on the east, Centre College. Lynx senior guard Becky Atnip led the Lynx with 15 points in a 64-44 road loss against DePauw and 16 points in a 65-51 road loss to Centre College. Currently Atnip is the 4th leading scorer in the SCAC at (16.4 ppg) and leads the SCAC in three point field goals made per game at (2.5). Atnip currently is the 6th leading scorer in Rhodes history with 1195 points. Rhodes opens SCAC tournament play against Austin College on Friday, February 26th. The Lynx lost their only 2009-2010 regular season game against the Kangaroos, 75-66 in Sherman, TX on January 15th.
Sewanee got up 32-27 for the halftime intermission at Oglethorpe in women's basketball action Saturday, but the host Petrels rallied in the second. The game was tied with 35 seconds left in the game, but OU's Sarah Giles hit a pair of free throws to get the final two-point edge for the Stormy Petrels. Lauren Gulley (Winchester, Tenn., Franklin County), who leads the team in scoring this year, scored 24 points to lead the Tigers Saturday night. Seniors Kelly Morrison (Bridgeport, W. Va., Notre Dame) and Jamie Robinson (Ft. Worth, Tex., Ft. Worth Country Day) both had double digit scoring efforts in their final college game with 14 and 10, respectively. Giles led OU with 14 points. Both teams shot 40% from the field for the game. Sewanee finsihes its 2010 season at 6-18 and 2-13 in the SCAC. Oglethorpe is 9-15 and 4-11 in the league. The Tigers have led the country for most of the season in three-pointers per game and have also been nationally ranked in steals per game and turnover ratio.
Southwestern dropped their final game of the regular season to Trinity, 57-68, in a well-played game in the Robertson Center on Friday night. Southwestern falls to 10-15 on the year and 6-10 in the SCAC. SU led throughout most of the second half, but Trinity snagged the lead for the final time with eight minutes to play and Southwestern was never able to get back on top. Despite dropping their last three games of the season Southwestern advances to the SCAC tournament after Millsaps upset Colorado College at home on Friday. The Pirates will head into the tournament as the #4 seed in the West and will face the #1 seed on the East, DePauw, at 1:00 pm in Jackson, Miss.
Trinity finished off the regular season by
splitting a pair of road games, winning at Southwestern on Friday,
but losing to Dallas Saturday afternoon. The Tigers capped off the
SCAC schedule with a 68-57 win over Southwestern Friday night, and
Trinity will be the third seed from the West Division for the SCAC
Tournament this weekend. At Dallas on Saturday, the Crusaders hit a
basket with 30 seconds left to score the upset win over Trinity.
Trinity will face Centre College in Friday's final women's game of
the tournament. Earlier this season, the Tigers defeated the
Colonels 70-60 in Danville, Kentucky.
To view the enitre SCAC Hoops Weekly for week
thirteen, click here.
