GEORGETOWN, Texas – Southwestern handed Austin College their first conference loss of the season with an 86-67 routing on Friday night.
Austin College was hot to start as Erin Riley drained three straight threes to take an early 9-0 lead. SU quickly evened the count on a three by Audrey Garcia and took the lead, 13-11, with a layup from Jordan Owens with 14:21 on the clock.
With outstanding three point shooting the Pirates pushed their lead to 14, 40-26, with four minutes to play in the half. By the time the halftime buzzer sounds Southwestern's lead had to ballooned to nearly 20 points, 49-32. Owens was dynamite in the first half with 18 points on 4-9 from the floor, 1-3 from three point range and a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line in just 11 minutes of action. McKamie Place posted 12 points in nine minutes off the bench.
Southwestern maintained control the rest of the way and were never threatened by the 'Roos to close out the game 86-67. Owens ended as the leading scorer with 24 points in 18 minutes while Place posted 19 in just 17 minutes of action. SU shot 45.8% from the floor and 40.9% from three point range while holding AC to 40.6% from the floor and 26.7% from long range.
With the win Southwestern improves to 6-9 on the year and 2-2 in the SCAC, sitting in fourth place in the conference, while Austin College falls to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in conference play. SU continues their home stand on Saturday, facing Centenary College at 6 p.m.