Pirate Basketball Returns to Conference Play on Friday
Posted: Jan 04, 2007
Jan. 4, 2007
SU's men and women's basketball teams take to the court on Friday (Jan. 5) in Sherman, TX against the Austin College Kangaroos for their first conference games of the new year.
The Pirate women currently own a 7-4 overall record, 1-1 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action. They take on Austin at 6:00 p.m. and then head for Conway, AR where they will face the Hendrix College Warriors at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday (Jan. 7).
The Roos own a 0-1 conference record and are 5-4 on the season. They are led by first-year forward Katy Williams who is averaging 12.6 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game. As a team, AC is shooting 39 percent on the season and holding opponents to 37 percent shooting. Austin most recently fell to Mary Hardin-Baylor by a score of 59-53.
Hendrix is currently riding an eight game winning streak and will play Trinity on Friday before taking on SU on Sunday. The Warriors have the two top scorers in conference in seniors Tori Huggins and Bonnie Hicks. Huggins leads the SCAC in scoring, recording 25.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while Hicks is scoring over 18 points per game. On the season, Hendrix is shooting 47.2 percent and outscoring opponents by over 21 points per game.
For SU, senior forward Kendal George (Winnie, TX/East Chambers HS) is in the top-four in the conference in both scoring and rebounding. She is scoring 17.8 points and pulling down 8.5 rebounds per game. Priyanka Kainthla (College Station, TX/A&M Consolidated) is dishing out four assists per game which is tied for the third best mark in the SCAC.
On the men's side, they tip-off against the Roos at 8:00 p.m. following the women's game. The Pirates enter the game with a 6-6 record and are 1-1 in conference contests. Austin is 4-5 overall and 0-1 in SCAC play while Hendrix boasts a 1-0 conference record and a 9-2 season record.
Senior Jason Burton is the only player on the Kangaroos' roster averaging over 10 points per game. The guard is scoring 11 points per game and first-year Chris Sturtevant is leading the team with an average of 4.3 rebounds per game. As a team, AC is shooting 42.5 percent from the floor and 34.2 percent from beyond the arc.
The Warriors, winners of eights-straight, are shooting nearly 50 percent (49.7) for the year and are connecting on 41.5 percent of shots from behind the three-point line. Hendrix has a balanced scoring attack with five different players scoring in double-digits per game. Sophomore Andrew King is leading the team in both points and rebounds, averaging 14.8 and 7.2, respectively.
After a 4-1 start, the Pirates are just 2-5 since. Juniors Matt Caplan (Houston, TX/University of Kansas) and Mike Powell (Houston, TX/Episcopal HS) are the top scorers for SU, averaging 14.8 and 10.7 points per game, respectively. Caplan is second in the conference in three-point field goal percentage, connecting on 54.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc. He and senior Casey Gorder (San Antonio, TX/Texas Millitary Institute) both lead the team with 5.3 rebounds per contest.
Fans can follow along with the games at Hendrix online by going to the web address http://www.hendrixwarriors.com/livestats/xlive.htm.
