Austin completes season sweep of Centre women
The Centre College women's basketball team started slowly and never recovered, falling to Austin College for the second time this season 63-51 in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) game, Friday, Feb. 9, in Sherman, Texas.
The loss marks the third straight for the Colonels, which fall to 5-14 overall and 2-9 in the SCAC. Austin, which also won the earlier meeting between the two teams 58-39, improves to 12-8 overall and 6-5 in league action.
With the game tied 8-8 at the 13:57 mark, the Kangaroos scored five straight points to take a 13-8 lead. Centre cut the lead to one (13-12), only to see Austin scored the next seven points to push its lead to 20-12 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half.
The Colonels fought back, pulling within three points (22-19) with 6:07 in the half, but once again, the Kangaroos had an answer scoring the final 11 points of the half to take a 33-19 lead into the break. Even though Centre committed only six turnovers in the first half, the Colonels were only able to make six of their 31 shots (19.4) compared to 44.4% (12-27) for Austin.
After a lay-up by the Kangaroos extended the lead to 35-19, Centre began to chip away. Trailing 43-31, the Colonels used a 14-5 run to cut the lead to three points at 48-45 with 4:26 to play.
Centre unfortunately would get no closer as the Kangaroos slowly pushed the lead back to double figures in the final minutes and finished with the 12-point conference win.
The Colonels shot 31.3% (10-32) in the second half to finish at 25.4% (16-63) for the game, while Austin shot 36.8% (7-19) in the second frame to finish at 41.3% (19-46). Even though Centre committed nine less turnovers in the game, they were out-rebounded by 14 (48-34), including a 33-16 advantage on the defensive end.
Katy Williams and Ceren Unal paced Austin with 14 points apiece. Williams finished with a double-double adding 13 rebounds to her 14 points, while Unal posted seven rebounds. Rachel Chesney also finished in double figures with 12 points and six rebounds in the win.
Freshman Chrystal Claunch (Harrodsburg, Ky.) and Chelsea Goodman (Harrodsburg, Ky.) were the only two Centre players to finish in double figures. Goodman scored 15 points and Claunch added 12 points in the defeat.
Centre will return to action Sunday, Feb. 11, to play the Hendrix College Warriors. The SCAC tilt is part of a men's/women's double header and is scheduled to tip-off at 3 p.m. CST in Conway, Ark.
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