WBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[jekelish]

Austin College was held to 45 points or fewer 10 times last season, and matched that total in the first half of their win tonight. Ended up winning 93-86 over Lyon, though it wasn't really as close as the final score indicates; some bad turnovers in the last couple minutes cut it down from a double-digit game. Matches the highest point total since the Covid season in spring 2021. Lots of new faces making huge impacts, with 38 points coming from freshmen. Add the fact that they got 26 from two sophomores, and that's 64 of their 93 points from some very young players. Solid start to the year.

Lyon has one REALLY good player, Allison Byars, who scored 35 of her team's 86. Just a really solid player who can do a little of everything.

[Ron Boerger]

New/different faces featured prominently in Trinity's come-from-behind 84-74 victory over UMHB at ETBU.  Sophomore forward Natalie Anderson scored a career-high 27 on 12-of-15, nearly tripling her career high of ten set last season, and first-year guard Jamie Ruede came in off the bench to add 15 (4-for-5 from distance) in 14 minutes.  Trinity trailed the Cru 58-48 after three before surging 36-16 in the final stanza.

[Ron Boerger]

The same faces that contributed in Trinity's opening win came through again tonight as the Tigers break open a close one with a 30-16 run in the final stanza to ease past Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 82-62.  Jamie Ruede led all scorers off the bench with 23 in 20 minutes, mostly from deep (7-10), and current SCAC PoTW Natalie Anderson added 18.  Led by Ruede, the Tiger bench outscored their counterparts 46-21. 

[Ron Boerger]

In what could be a preview of the SCAC championship (though Colorado College will probably have something to say about that), TLU led for the first 3 1/2 quarters, mostly by double digits, and were up 17 with nine minutes left in the fourth before Trinity stormed back to lead with four minutes left.   The teams went back and forth the rest of the way - TLU making three trips to the line in the last two minutes, but missed three of the six FTs, critically one of two with 3.5 seconds remaining resulting in a 70-68 lead.  Anderson inbounded to Robbins and ran immediately to the basket where Robbins found her for a layup that bounced in as time expired.   Trinity scored the first eleven points in OT and TLU never really threatened again as the Tigers improved to 6-1 with an 86-76 win.

Sophomore Natalie Anderson continued her hot start to the season with 27 points and 12 rebounds, Maggie Robbins added 15 and 8, and Jamie Rudie's 11 included two big threes in the fourth quarter comeback.

[D3Navy]

In what could be a preview of the SCAC championship (though Colorado College will probably have something to say about that), TLU led for the first 3 1/2 quarters, mostly by double digits, and were up 17 with nine minutes left in the fourth before Trinity stormed back to lead with four minutes left.   The teams went back and forth the rest of the way - TLU making three trips to the line in the last two minutes, but missed three of the six FTs, critically one of two with 3.5 seconds remaining resulting in a 70-68 lead.  Anderson inbounded to Robbins and ran immediately to the basket where Robbins found her for a layup that bounced in as time expired.   Trinity scored the first eleven points in OT and TLU never really threatened again as the Tigers improved to 6-1 with an 86-76 win.

Sophomore Natalie Anderson continued her hot start to the season with 27 points and 12 rebounds, Maggie Robbins added 15 and 8, and Jamie Rudie's 11 included two big threes in the fourth quarter comeback.

Great recap, Ron.  Reliance on the 3-pointers is risky.  Trinity was 1-12 in the first half and 7-15 in the 2nd.  The Trinity men weirdly had the same situation in the game immediately preceding in the same gym.  Maybe something to do with the court or hoops at TLU that initially throws off visiting team shooters?  Not a bad home court advantage to have! 

Still great to see the resilience from both teams!

[Ron Boerger]

And .. we're back.  Thank you to Pat and the D3 team for not giving up on the boards.

Since our last episode ... things have changed dramatically for Trinity.  Natalie Anderson suffered what apparently was a season-ending injury to her MCL in a mid-December game against Dallas, after which the team struggled while it tried to replace her significant contributions on both ends.  The team added a transfer in early January, 6'2" F Natalie Greenwood, but has very unusually seen the departure of several women from the team, leaving the Tigers with only 12 players and a very short bench.  After an early-season loss at Colorado College, the women have pushed through tough circumstances to win the rest of their SCAC games to secure the top seed for this weekend's conference tournament.

Trinity has seen good contributions from junior Josie Napoli (16.1 ppg, 39.4% from beyond the arc), FY Jamie Ruede (13.2 ppg/41.1% 3FG) and more recently, sophomore Kylie Minter (10.5 ppg/39.8% 3FG).  The team's sole senior, Maggie Robbins continues to be a stabilizing presence guiding the offense and with 4.7 boards per game is the leader in that category among active players, though the loss of Anderson's nearly 10 has resulted in the team being outrebounded by over five per game.  The usual "forty minutes of hell" defense has been replaced with an opportunistic pressure due to the short bench, though the team still holds a significant turnover advantage.

The non-conference losses resulting from Anderson's absence mean that there will be no Pool C bid for anyone in the conference this year.

[Ron Boerger]

If you haven't already had a listen to yesterday's Hoopsville, Dave McHugh had a excellent interview with Trinity coach Cameron Hill, who discusses the current season with great candor.  It's well worth your time.

[jekelish]

Looking forward to this weekend's tournaments! I'll be heading to Shreveport for the first time to watch in person, excited for my first trip to Louisiana. Hoping for a bunch of good games!

[Ron Boerger]

Local TV station KSAT (which of the majors does the best job covering local non-UTSA sports) ran a story on Jamie Ruede's record-setting 3FG performance.  You'll have to sit through part of an ad but can skip shortly after it starts. 

[Ron Boerger]

And Jamie Ruede's 18 leads Trinity over Colorado College in the SCAC championships, 63-57.  The audio was cut out but I think she was named the championships MVP.   Zoe Tomlinson did everything she could for CC, leading all players with 21 and 22. 

The bracketologists have UMHB earning a Pool C, and Millsaps can bus to UMHB (but not HSU or Trinity), so it's likely Trinity heads to Belton to play one of the ASC teams (my guess would be UMHB).  Millsaps should be the 4th seed, HSU 1st, Trinity and UMHB are close for 2nd/3rd. 

[Ron Boerger]

The NCAA did a very un-NCAA thing in opting to put Millsaps on a plane, which resulted in the team that should host, Hardin-Simmons, actually hosting.  What a concept; maybe they did learn something as a result of their decision last year to create a third sectional in Massachusetts and the resulting blowback. 

The last time Trinity visited Abilene in the playoffs was just two years ago, where they upset not only the homestanding Cowgirls but then #4-ranked Whitman on their way to an Elite 8 appearance.  The road this year will be tougher as possible second-round opponent HSU defeated Trinity earlier this season when they were still at full strength.  With only 11 available players and the team's youth, any win in the post-season would have to be considered an upset.  If they can grind out UMHB like they did Colorado College and hit their threes, they'll have a chance. 

[Gray Fox]

The NCAA did a very un-NCAA thing in opting to put Millsaps on a plane, which resulted in the team that should host, Hardin-Simmons, actually hosting.  What a concept; maybe they did learn something as a result of their decision last year to create a third sectional in Massachusetts and the resulting blowback. 

The last time Trinity visited Abilene in the playoffs was just two years ago, where they upset not only the homestanding Cowgirls but then #4-ranked Whitman on their way to an Elite 8 appearance.  The road this year will be tougher as possible second-round opponent HSU defeated Trinity earlier this season when they were still at full strength.  With only 11 available players and the team's youth, any win in the post-season would have to be considered an upset.  If they can grind out UMHB like they did Colorado College and hit their threes, they'll have a chance. 

Don't overlook Oxy.  A very unusual team.  A big center and the fifth highest scorer in the NCAA this year. But, first things first for both teams.  I know Trinity has a great first year scorer.

[Ron Boerger]

They play HSU in the first round.  I'm not looking past UMHB. 

[D3Navy]

Superb effort by Trinity last night.  Down 13 six minutes into the third quarter, the Tigers pulled it out.

UMHB took 22 more shots in the game, but Trinity made up for it with over 50% accuracy overall and from beyond the arc.

Should be a great game tonight against host Hardin Simmons.

[Ron Boerger]

Possibly the most challenging season in recent Trinity history came to an end after a huge second quarter by HSU (27-8) Saturday night that the team simply couldn't recover from.  The Cowgirls did a good job of chasing Trinity off the three-point line (to wit:  Jamie Ruede only attempted four threes), HSU drew plenty of shooting fouls all night, and the Paris/Parris duo did what they do.  Robbins and Ruede fouled out by game's end, Minter and Timmons ended up with four, and the lack of bench depth and inside presence (Ruede's nine rebounds was as many as the next two players combined) against a team as good as HSU finally took a toll.  The Cowgirls nearly doubled up the Tigers on the boards, 46-27.  There is no shame in losing on the road to a team which, in the words of their own press release yesterday, "has a quartet of Cowgirl seniors who have started nearly every game in their careers."

So, where does Trinity go from here?  It's a young team, with only Maggie Robbins graduating.  The other players who saw significant time yesterday are two juniors (Napoli and Timmons), two sophomores (Minter and King) and a first year (Ruede).  Assuming she takes advantage of the opportunity for a medical redshirt, Natalie Anderson will return as a sophomore.  That's a pretty good core, but the team simply must have a better recruiting effort next year, and hopefully some of the players who struggled to contribute this year can have successful off seasons where the game will come to them as it did for Anderson before her injury.  And you have to hope there are no lingering after-effects from that injury; it's never easy to come back after losing a season to one.   The combination of a successful return by Anderson and more practice time in the gym for the "other" Natalie (6'2" soph Greenwood) should give the team the inside presence it lacked this season.   

Robbins' steady presence and heady play will be missed on both sides of the floor.  She never had gaudy stats, but there was no doubt in my mind Maggie was the engine that drove the team the last few seasons.