WBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[pbrooks3]

Centre Lady Colonels have picked up 3 nice pre-Christmas holidays wins, having defeated Mount St. Joseph, St. Catharine and Marietta College all away from the friendly confines of Alumni Gym.  Team is now 7-3 and 2-0 in the SCAC.  Sophomore post, Lauren Huter, has picked up the pace in her game in both scoring & rebounding.  Lady Colonels lace them up again after the 1st of the new year against eastern division rival, DePauw on January 3rd at home.  This will be a big game where we'll get a chance to see if guard play determines the outcome.

[pbrooks3]

Tough, physical battle at Centre today with DePauw coming out a winner by 6.  DePauw got a big game from Jenna Fernandez with 21 points on 10-11 shooting from the field.  The Tigers outrebounded the Colonels by 4 and won the turnover battle as well.  Colonels fought hard down the stretch but never could take the lead.  Must hand it to DePauw; they were up to the challenge and really made Chelsea Goodman a non-factor offensively today.  2nd chance points were pretty much non-existent for Centre.  Maggie Prewitt led the Colonels with 17 and Lauren Huter tallied 12. 

[pbrooks3]

Impressive home court performance last evening from the Lady Colonels in winning by 25 over Oglethorpe. It's been awhile since Centre has won over this team in this fashion.  Granted OU is in a reloading mode.  Colonels had 4 players with double-digit scoring games led by Maggie Prewitt. Angela Tronzo came off the bench to tally 8 and generate some serious spark. This win was a good rebound from Sunday's loss to DePauw.  Sewanee in Danville on Sunday is the next game.

[pbrooks3]

Kudos to Thad McCracken & the Lady Warriors. McCracken's team is a quiet 8-2 and coming off a nice homecourt win against Trinity last night. He's got a veteran team and he's making the Hendrix faithful proud right now with the way the Ladies are playing.   

[Blaster]

Depauw and Centre seem like heads above everyone else. What are the keys to stopping them?

[pbrooks3]

Depauw and Centre seem like heads above everyone else. What are the keys to stopping them?

No trade secrets here - keys for these teams are high energy play and bench depth; both of these traits are connected.

[Blaster]

Any idea on how the top 4 teams from the SCAC would stack up against teams in the top 10?  Also wondering how many teams have a chance of making the NCAA tournament.  I know there is still a lot of season to unfold but as of now what are your thoughts?

[pbrooks3]

Any idea on how the top 4 teams from the SCAC would stack up against teams in the top 10?  Also wondering how many teams have a chance of making the NCAA tournament.  I know there is still a lot of season to unfold but as of now what are your thoughts?

I've not studied this closely, but I think there's good balance in this league, particularly in the west. I like 4 teams  on that side - Austin, Trinity, Hendrix and Colorado College. I think it's more of a 2-horse race in the east between DePauw and Centre. Starting in the west, it's tough to decide who's the best. The team impressing me the most right now & perhaps something of a sleeper is Hendrix. This squad I thought was on the cusp of getting it done last year. They have some veteran players, decent depth, and a terrific young coach. I saw them play an early season game and they impressed me with their toughness and their ability to play different basketball styles & tempos. Byler is quietly one of the best in the SCAC. Also like Trinity and Austin but haven't seen either play yet this year. With Katie Williams in the post, Austin is extremely capable. A little outside shooting and controlled guard play improves their chances. I loved Trinity in the post-season last year with their exciting young players.  Know they got waxed by Hendrix earlier so I think the jury's still out on how consistently good they can be.  Colorado College is probably a notch below the others.  DePauw is still the beast of the east, and they receive kudos for beating Centre in Danville earlier. When the Tigers bring their usual high energy style, deep bench and strong offensive rebounding, they're a tough act to follow. They've played probably the strongest out of conference schedule so they're battle-tested. Centre isn't far behind. When their pressure defense generates turnovers & easy baskets they are at their best.  Should they continue to improve their overall rebounding & shooting, they'll contend for the league's number 1.  

All this being said, 1 and possibly 2 SCAC teams get to the dance this year. While none of our league is in the top 25 currently, I think most of the aforementioned teams are capable of competing with some of the elite D3 womens programs.        

[pbrooks3]

Think Hendrix will get two competitive games this weekend @ home from DePauw tonight and Centre on Sunday. These games may help gauge who emerges as a true front-runner.

[jekelish]

For anyone keeping track, Katy Williams only needs 64 rebounds to tie, 65 to pass Prato-Matthews for the all-time SCAC record after her 16 rebound performance last night.

The 'Roos are really having a fantastic start.  I'll admit, I did not expect them to be 11-3 at this point.  I thought they would have a solid year, but they're surpassing my expectations.  Freshman guard Shayna Clardy has been a revelation and has filled in nicely for graduated senior Maegan Fitzgerald, admirably picking up the slack beyond the arc.  Not sure she has quite the range that Fitzgerald had, but she's turned out to be a really, really good replacement.

[pbrooks3]

For anyone keeping track, Katy Williams only needs 64 rebounds to tie, 65 to pass Prato-Matthews for the all-time SCAC record after her 16 rebound performance last night.

The 'Roos are really having a fantastic start.  I'll admit, I did not expect them to be 11-3 at this point.  I thought they would have a solid year, but they're surpassing my expectations.  Freshman guard Shayna Clardy has been a revelation and has filled in nicely for graduated senior Maegan Fitzgerald, admirably picking up the slack beyond the arc.  Not sure she has quite the range that Fitzgerald had, but she's turned out to be a really, really good replacement.

Jekelish good to have you post. Katy Williams and Austin are definitely shining in the West. I'll be curious to see more of the East-West matchups as the season progresses. From this we'll have a better idea of how Austin stacks up.

[pbrooks3]

Hendrix shut down Centre in the final 7 minutes of the 1st half to grab a 4 point lead - 26-22. Hendrix has cut off the Colonels' slashing to the basket for good looks. Centre will need to work a different offensive pattern to score.

[DPU3619]

Any idea on how the top 4 teams from the SCAC would stack up against teams in the top 10?  Also wondering how many teams have a chance of making the NCAA tournament.  I know there is still a lot of season to unfold but as of now what are your thoughts?

Little late to the party on this one, but here's what I think I might possibly have a general concept of knowing for the middle of January.

DePauw has a 5 point loss to the #3 team in the country on a neutral site.  DePauw also has an OT loss to #19 Thomas More in their building.  Those 2 losses are by a combined 8 points.  I don't know how much I put weight in to that BSC loss.  It's obviously worth something, but DePauw has proved to me that was an outlier. 

This is a pretty darn good team that really is starting to hit their stride.  This just might be the start of another one of those "reel off the last 20 in a row as we go to the playoffs" type runs that DePauw likes to go on.  There's some really good wins in this little 9 gamer (counting today's 71-35 win @ Millsaps) that they're on right now.  There's a nice win at Centre in there and a really, really nice good at Baldwin-Wallace, too.  So, I think we're really beginning to see that team put things together.  I'm not sure I think they can be a legit Top 10 team just yet. I'm starting to come around to it, but I think I'll wait for that Austin roadie before I commit to it.

There's some common opponents with some good teams like Maryville(TN) that, to me, may show that DePauw is better than they're being given credit for.  I think that I think that DePauw is the best team in the conference right now.  The schedule is pretty much set for them, too.  There's no Trinity trip for them this year.  All the tough opponents left on the schedule come to the Neal Fieldhouse exluding that trip to Austin on the 29th.  Keep in mind that's a building DePauw hasn't lost a SCAC game in their last SIXTY regular season tries.

[pbrooks3]

Wes is right about DePauw now. I think everyone who has seen them play thinks they're the class of the SCAC. Centre didn't help it's cause today in losing by 10 to Hendrix. Centre had 2 big chances in this game to build big leads and couldn't get it done. Hendrix played superior interior defense and fought through it's weak ballhandling to take over the game in the late stages of each half. Got to hand it to Hendrix on a solid defensive game plan in shutting down most of what Centre likes to do. Lauren Huter led the Colonels with 18 points.

[Blaster]

I had the opportunity to see Depauw and Centre play this weekend and both are good teams.  Depauw plays very well without the ball so they are in great position by the time the ball gets to them.  I was very impressed.  There coach really has them playing in harmony.  Centre has a good press and can handle the ball well.  They are easily the top two teams in the East.  The west is still wide open, so who knows how it will turn out at this point.