SEGUIN, Texas — The No. 4 seed Southwestern University Pirates women's basketball team was upset in the first round of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament, falling to the No. 5 seed Colorado College Tigers 62-50.
Cecily Woolfolk led the Pirates with 13 points but was the only Southwestern player in double figures on a night the team struggled to 24.3 percent shooting, including 2-for-17 from the 3-point line, and missed 10 of its 24 free-throw attempts.
The Pirates started the game with some of its best defensive intensity of the season, coming out in an aggressive man-to-man defense with Noel Pratts pressuring at the point of attack.
Southwestern stifled the initial entry passes, forcing the offense to set itself several feet from its preferred spot. When a Colorado College player punctured the defense off the dribble, rotations moved ahead of the offense's intent, walling off the most threatening areas of the court.
The Tigers missed their first seven shot attempts and turned the ball over on another possession, struggling to handle the pressure.
On the other end, the Pirates failed to capitalize on several looks inside. The Southwestern front court moved to quickly in a crowd on a number of high-low passes and post-entry feeds, attempting to rush through contact before truly gathering for strong shot attempts at the rim.
Early momentum only earned a 4-0 lead until, eventually, that momentum was turned on the Pirates.
Offensive rebounds plagued the Southwestern defense, regaining Colorado College possessions the Pirates worked to bleed down to the end of the shot clock. When Pratts went to the bench, so too did the on-ball pressure, giving the Tigers more room to breathe and clear passing windows to setup backdoor cuts; ending the first quarter with an 11-10 lead.
The second quarter brought the best offensive execution for both teams with Colorado College scoring 20 to the Pirates' 19.
Zhazze Brown found a mini-run, scoring a pair of quick buckets in the middle of the quarter and Cecily Woolfolk found her footing for a basket and foul to put the Pirates up 29-28 with less than a minute remaining but a defensive breakdown on a failed switch gave the Tigers'Iy Hensley an open 3-pointer for a 31-29 lead at the half.
All game, Southwestern struggled to finish possessions on either end of the court. The ball swung and worked inside via post entry passes or dribble penetration only to rim out. Defensively, the Pirates shut down multiple actions and stopped the ball only to allow a back cut at the end of the shot clock.
Those missed opportunities led to pressing, throwing careless passes or taking quick shots.
The Tigers' McKenzee broke free in the second half, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and free throws in the third quarter and scoring another five in the fourth, spacing the floor and crashing the boards for a game-high 18 points and 18 rebounds.
Jade Odom and Casey Torbet scored 12 each with Odom also filling up the box score with seven rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks while playing point center to offset a 2-for-15 shooting performance from the field. Hensley hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.
The Pirates shot just 17-for-70, turning the ball over 12 times to just nine assists. With the loss, the Pirates end their season 12-14.