Both Southwestern and Trinity won on the second night of conference play.  Southwestern's Jordan Owens broke the SU single game scoring record that she tied earlier in the year.  She put up 34 against Centenary as the Pirates scored 95 against the Ladies without Chelsea Leeder.  Leeder left the game after some so-so play complaining of nausea and dizziness.  She was diagnosed with a concussion from a bump on the head earlier in the day in transit to the game. 

Trinity narrowly escaped a late rally by Austin College, winning by 6.  Both teams are now 2-0 in conference.

The Pirates have 14 days until their next game against ASC opponent Concordia.

First night of conference play came with wins for both Southwestern and Trinity on the road at Austin and Centenary respectively.  Chelsea Leeder came out of her 3pt shooting slump for the Pirates to nail 7 of 14 from behind the arc and put up 29 of the Pirates 66 points.  Coach Brinkoeter would say after the game, "it looked like Austin's game plan was to crowd the lane and let our guards shoot the ball."  And shoot they did, hitting 14 of 34 from 3pt land.  The Pirates scored just 8 points in the paint to Austin's 14.  SU trailed for the first 7:15 of the first half until Leeder hit her first 3 of the game.  After 7 more minutes of back and forth play, Leeder took over scoring 14 of the team's 18 pts to close the half up 15 (33-18). 

Annie Bourne scored a layup to open the second half and push the lead to 17.  The lead grew to 20 before Austin mounted a comeback on the backs of the officials, outscoring the Pirates in the final 12 minutes 22-16.  Austin cut the lead to 9 with 1:48 left in the game, but that was as close as they would get.

Austin's Brooke Melton put up a solid double-double with 18 points to go along with 15 rebounds.  The always dangerous Shayna Clardy added 11pts on 3-4 3pt shooting.

The Pirates are back in action tomorrow night in Shreveport against new SCAC member Centenary. 

On a side note, Chelsea Leeder has broken the SU career 3pt FG record of 134!  She did so in the 3rd game of the season on the road in a 2 point loss to Mary Hardin Baylor. The old record was held by Priyanka Kainthla ('03-'07), a player Coach Brinkoeter recruited in her first stint as the SU Head Coach.

Southwestern split this weekend in a matchup against future conference opponent Shriner and ASC member Hardin Simmons. The Pirates led by double digits late in the game against Shriner and weathered a scoring drought to win by 3. Hardin Simmons proved more of a challenge. The Pirates led by as much as 9 early and were ahead by 5 at the break. They pushed the lead to 7 early in the second half but the majority of last 15 minutes were back and forth, neither team leading by more than 4. The final 6 minutes saw a total of 5 points scored between the two teams. Despite an incredible defensive stand by the Pirates that led to 5 HSU turnovers in the final minutes, SU was 1 for 7 shooting and 0-2 from the charity stripe down the stretch. HSU went 1 for 4 from the floor and 1 for 2 from the FT line in the final minutes, hitting a jumper with 7 seconds left that proved to be the game winner.

SU opens conference play this weekend at Austin and Centenary.

SU Pirates opened up the new season strong at home despite injuries that kept 3 of the top 8 players, including lone senior Katelyn Bartel, on the sidelines. The Pirates put up 167 points on the weekend while shooting 38% from the floor and 19% from behind the arc. Physically they look to be in mid-season form and their new high tempo offense is creating a lot of scoring opportunities...and trips to the charity stripe. Should be an exciting season.

The third game of the SCAC women's tourney lived up to its billing.  The two hottest teams in the conference (Southwestern and Birmingham Southern) met up in a barn burner of a game in a raucous Homewood HS gym.  Southwestern may have been home on the scoreboard but they were most definitely the visitors in that environment.  The two teams would ultimately set the SCAC tournament record for combined points in the first ever double overtime thriller which saw 11 lead changes and several clutch shots down the stretch.  Neither team gave up fighting for this one as it came down to a last second layup by first year Madison Eschle (pronounced 'ashley') to seal the win for SU 96-95.  Three players for SU had 20+ points as senior Anna Fareed put up 28 on 8 of 14 shooting (4-8 3pt) and 8-10 from the charity stripe.  She was followed closely by first year Jordan Owens who added 25 points on 9 of 20 shooting (0-2 3pt) and 7-10 from the line.  The team's leading scorer on the season, Chelsea Leeder, added 24 points...also on 9 of 20 from the floor (2-8 3pt) and 4-4 from the line.  She also posted 6 assists and 5 steals on the night. 

The question is, after 50 minutes of all out effort do they have anything left for the second round against Millsaps.  The Pirates are used to playing back-to-back having done it 6 out of their 7 conference double-headers.  But I daresay they were not tested in the first of those games quite like they were tonight.  Millsaps on the other hand played no back-to-back conference games this season and only scheduled 3 back-to-back games all year...the last back at the end of December 2011.  Granted, they didn't have to work quite as long as the Pirates did tonight, but Trinity still made them work for the win (unlike Hendrix and Colorado). 

Southwestern is the lone remaining hope for the west to bring home a championship before the west becomes the SCAC outright later this year.  Go Pirates!!

Centre's lackluster final two weekends, Rhode's new weapon in Avant, and Southwestern and Birminham's run of victories at season's end are setting up a very interesting SCAC tourney. Some teams seem to be peaking at the right time while others are fading.  Looks like it could be anyone's tournament at this point...

Wild finish at Dallas tonight as Southwestern entered the game needing the win to secure the top seed in the west. Likewise, Dallas needed the win to make the SCAC tourney. After pulling ahead early, the Pirates found themselves down 13 after a run by Dallas. It took SU the rest of the first half to claw their way back to within 1. Dallas struck early in the second half pushing the lead back to as much as 12 before the defensive pressure forced some timely turnovers. Chelsea Leeder took over in the final few minutes to score what seemed like half of her game high 27 points. It was a hard fought victory. The Pirates are looking forward to matching up against Birmingham after a convincing 13 point win at home on Jan. 13th. Both teams are coming off nice winning streaks and are shooting the ball well. It should be an exciting game.

I was actually surprised by the TLU announcement, expecting it to be LeTu. I think they are a much better fit than TLU.  They may get a shot if Colorado makes a move.

Just two weekends left in the current SCAC regime.  Texas Lutheran accepted an invitation to join the SCAC this week which rounds out the new SCAC to 8 teams: Southwestern, Trinity, Colorado, Austin, Dallas, Centenary, Texas Lutheran and Schreiner.  SCAC leadership successfully recruited the last 3 away from the Texas dominated ASC.  I can't help but sense that Colorado will begin seeking another conference home as traveling to Texas becomes tiresome.  They will be the only school to see little change in their travel budget after the transition.

On another note, Southwestern will sew up the #1 seed in the west with 2 wins this weekend!  Outstanding play from such a young team bodes well for the future.  They are sure to be a dominant force in the all new SCAC for years to come.  Quite a turn around from the previous 5 years...kuddos to Coach Brinkoeter and the work she has done in such a short time.  She has brought in some quality players.