WBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

One of the things I really like about the new SCAC websites is that you get a different address for the different sections of the website (on the old one the main address always showed as you navigated through the pages).  Here's the link to the SCAC Women's schedule:

http://www.scacsports.com/sports/wbkb/2008-09/schedule

It looks like Millsaps is the only team with two games this weekend, playing two games on a road trip to Atlanta with a Saturday game with Piedmont and a Sunday game at Spelman

[frank_ezelle]

The preseason SCAC picks for order of finish are out.  While understanding why the Lady Majors are picked to finish 10th, I think that will prove to be far too low:

http://www.scacsports.com/sports/wbkb/2008-09/news/2008-09predictedorderfinish

[pbrooks3]

Lady Colonels hit the road this evening for their opening game against Franklin. Centre begins the season with a large group of underclass ladies with talent. Know nothing about the Franklin team, so I have no sense for how this one will go.

[FlightofthePetrel]

Oglethorpe looked great in the layup lines last night during the "Basketball Madness" to kickoff the season.  They open up the season against Ferrum at 2 p.m. today it what will be a good early season test for the lofty ranked Petrels.  They ladies have a goal to score 100 points so that each fan/student, I'm not sure which, receives a free desert from Hudson Grill.

The preseason SCAC picks for order of finish are out.  While understanding why the Lady Majors are picked to finish 10th, I think that will prove to be far too low:

http://www.scacsports.com/sports/wbkb/2008-09/news/2008-09predictedorderfinish

Frank, this may be an example just like 3 years ago when Oglethorpe was predicted to finish near the bottom of the conference and surprised us all.  I believe that the #10 finish for Millsaps is also to low and I believe they are more likely to finish around #6.

[FlightofthePetrel]

No desert  but the Petrels did come away with a victory.  Oglethorpe comes away with a 83-65 victory over Ferrum that saw 4 Stormy Petrels Finish in double Figures.   

All-American Katie Kulavic led all scorers with 19 points and 5 reb. (7-10 shooting)
Biz Richmann  16 points and 5 reb.  (7-8 shooting)
Anna Findley 15 pts. 8 reb., 
Tina Grace 14 points. 

Also with a stellar effort was senior Hannah Brooks who filled up the stat sheet with an impressive 8 points, 7 reb. and 6 assists on (4-6 shooting).

Oglethorpe started slow but wound up leading by as many as 22 in the first half.  Ferrum mounted many furious rallies behind Caprise Laws game high 21 points but Oglethorpe remained calm and in control to put the game away late before once again emptying the bench for the final few minutes.

[frank_ezelle]

No desert for Millsaps as well as they lost in OT 81-80 at Piedmont.  Piedmont had the ball out of bounds and trailing by two with 1.5 seconds left in the game and a foul was called on Millsaps and two free throws tied the game.  I have seen the box score but the story says there were a combined 73 turnovers in the game.  That's an area that Millsaps has to improve greatly on this season.

Like last year with the men having several great teams, teams need to think from the very start about the backup plan of getting an at-large bid if they don't get the AQ.  Time will tell if this Millsaps team is good enough for that to even apply, but a very close South Region loss right out of the gate is a tough start.

Link to Piedmont story:  http://www.piedmontlions.com/news/wbball/2008/11/15/11_15_08_wball.asp

[FlightofthePetrel]

While they didn't come away with the win I think the performance Millsaps put up against Piedmont (a NCAA tournament team the past 2 years) shows that the Lady Majors are not the same team we're used to beating up on.  Frank you may have something here and everyone in the SCAC would be wise to take notice and not take them lightly.  Oglethorpe takes on that same Piedmont team on Tuesday- that may give us a better idea of what to expect... even though it is extremely early in the season.

[frank_ezelle]

It is very early in the season and I do believe the Millsaps team will have some growing pains early on as they try to mess in a talented group of freshmen with the returning players.  In the box score of the Piedmont game I saw that both teams had 30+ turnovers, a stat that was not unknown to Millsaps last season.  I'm sure Millsaps is planning to push the ball all game this year and they will have turnovers with that style of game, but they will need to cut it down to a reasonable number over the next few weeks.

BTW, I've given you a +1 on karma today both for your support of the OU Women's team and because I notice that you'll be able to give karma after your next post!!!!!  Once you gain this almighty power I hope you'll remember those who supported you on the rise to the top.  

[FlightofthePetrel]

Oglethorpe Blows by Piedmont 91-67!!!

Thanks Frank!  I'm glad my 200th post comes on the heels of another Oglethorpe victory.  This one was over once Piedmont stepped off the bus.  All Oglethorpe needed was for Piedmont to show up and the Victory was all  but ensured.  Oglethorpe was once again led by a balanced scoring attack as 4 players finished in doubles figures and another 2 had 9 points a piece.

Richmann and Grace led all scorers with 13 a piece.  Brooks and Osmanson chipped in 10 points a piece respectively while Kulavic and Reeves also finished with 9 points.  Ari Brown came off the bench and recorded probably her best game to date with 6 points and 9 rebounds in only 13 minutes of action.

Both teams combined for 47 turnovers (compared to the 73 in the Millsaps game) and at points the game resembled a soccer match.  Oglethorpe led by as many as 30 points with 11:23 left and coach Sattele emptied the bench for the remainder of the game around the 10 minute mark.  It was good to see that OU didn't falter when their two offensive stars, Kulavic and Findley, watched most of the game on the bench struggling with foul trouble throughout the game.


Oglethorpe improves to 2-0 in the young season and they will travel to Chicago this weekend to take on Wheaton and Grinell.


How are the rest of the SCAC teams doing in the early going?  Anyone from Trinity or Depauw care to chime in?


http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/

[Bubba the Petrel]

Oglethorpe Blows by Piedmont 91-67!!!

The two-line write-up of the game in the AJC this morning lists the final as 71-67.  Typical crackerjack reporting by our local ragsheet. 

[pbrooks3]

Lady Colonels hit the road this evening for their opening game against Franklin. Centre begins the season with a large group of underclass ladies with talent. Know nothing about the Franklin team, so I have no sense for how this one will go.

Another one of my posting mistakes.  Lady Colonels actually begin their season tomorrow (Friday, Nov 21) night against Spalding University at home in their local tournament (Country Hearth Inn/Famous Recipe Classic).  They'll follow that up with a second tournament game Saturday afternoon against Greenville College (IL).

[FlightofthePetrel]

Oglethorpe travels up North to take on Wheaton and Grinnell this weekend.  Do any other SCAC schools have experience against these two teams to know what Oglethorpe should expect?  Hopefully they can come out of there with 2 wins to help further solidify the reputation of the SCAC when it comes to having great basketball teams.

Also if anyone finds links to live stats or audio could you please post it here as well...

[frank_ezelle]

To anyone who is interested, the Millsaps at Louisiana College game is scheduled to be webcast by Millsaps with the tipoff at 5:00 Central time.  The link to that is:

http://www.atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm

[DPULefty22]

DPU will be tested right out of the gate in the always-tough WashU-IWU-DPU Rotating Tournament of Doom (it's in St. Louis this year). Tigers open with IWU tonight.

Pruzin, Fernandez, Marshall all back - there are two of your top three scorers and top three rebounders from last year. Katie Mathews shouldn't have any trouble filling Gretchen Haehl's shoes at the point - she's got the best mid-range jumper in the conference.

Have to say I kinda liked seeing the Tigers picked to finish second... Coach Huffman's teams thrive on anything that can possibly be percieved as doubt in their abilities. If I know anything about these Tigers it's that they love proving people wrong.

Will be tough out of the gate though - definately keep an eye on whoever enters that guard rotation behind Mathews-Pruzin. Brianna Frigerio was the only other returning player to get significant PT at guard last year, but there look to be some really good freshman guards.

[FlightofthePetrel]

Oglethorpe Steamrolls Grinnell  87-60!

The Petrels picked up another win in the Wheaton tournament that again allowed Coach Sattele to rest his starters and get the bench players some much needed experience.  OU was led by Sophomore Ari Brown's 14 points and 8 rebounds as she came off the bench and posted her second consecutive quality performance.  This girl is easily the most improved on the team and you can tell she's worked extremely hard over the summer to get to where she is now.

Oglethorpe takes the court once again tomorrow as they take on the Wheaton/Blackburn winner.  Hopefully the girls will come back with a Stellar 4-0 record.

As always the write up can be found at:  http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/