Colorado College brought all they had and pressed the Pirates hard, but SU prevailed with a 72-68 win on Friday night in the Robertson Center to move to 2-0 in the SCAC.
Colorado hung close early, but Southwestern's deep and talented bench quickly mounted a nine point lead, 23-14, with 11:16 to play in the half.
The Tigers continued to fight and got within four, 26-22, with seven minutes to play and SU's inability to make layups kept Colorado not only in the game, but within one possession of tying, 32-29, with just under three minutes remaining.
When the halftime buzzer sounded, Southwestern held on to a slim three point advantage, 36-33. Jordan Owens led with 11 first half points and Annie Bourne chipped in nine with six rebounds.
After back-to-back Pirate turnovers the Tigers took their first lead of the game, 39-38, on a jumper from Courtney Tyus with 16:32 on the clock.
As the clock rolled under eight minutes, the Pirates still faced a three point deficit, 56-53. Back-to-back layups from Valerie Logan and Olivia Podaras evened the count, 57-57, with 6:29 to play. Madison Eschle's layup handed the lead back to the Pirates with just over five minutes remaining and SU never looked back, fending of the Tiger's final push to win 72-68.
Owens led all scorers with 24 points on 9-18 shooting from the field and 6-7 from the free throw line. Southwestern shot 41.5% from the field and 30% from long range and got 44 points in the paint. Colorado posted near identical percentages from the field and three point range, but managed just 52.4% from the free throw line in the loss. Danielle Davis led the Tigers with 21 points.
With a game-high 9 rebounds, Bourne moves closer to snagging second place in the SCAC in career rebounds. She is 27 shy with 982 of current #2, Krista Prato Matthews of Trinity, who posted 1009 in her career.
Southwestern improves to 4-9 on the year and 2-0 in the SCAC while Colorado College falls to 2-12 overall and 2-1 in conference play. The Pirates remain at home to face Centenary College on Saturday for a 4pm tipoff.