GEORGETOWN, Texas – On the second day of a back-to-back, the Southwestern University Pirates women's basketball team lost 80-62 to the Colorado College Tigers to fall to 1-1 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play.
The Pirates' frontcourt of Cecily Woolfolk and Tori Carraway combined for 32 points and 17 rebounds and forward Kelsey Faykus added 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting off the bench but the rest of the team struggled from the field, shooting 24-for-72 as a team (33.3 percent).
Southwestern University and Colorado College started the game exchanging beautifully executed sets. The Pirates worked their high-low offense with connect the dots passing from Courtney Maass to Carraway to Woolfolk for two early layups and Woolfolk scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the first quarter, giving the Pirates a 17-16 lead with an offensive rebound and layup at the buzzer.
Izzy Hensley got the Tigers going in the second quarter, scoring eight points and hitting two big 3-pointers to help Colorado College take a 35-27 lead at the half.
The Pirates' defense fell apart in the third quarter, surrendering 31 points on 13-for-18 shooting. The Tigers found success using Jade Odom to work the middle of the Pirates' 2-3 zone, hitting the big forward for soft jumpers in the paint. Her gravity pulled on the strings of the Southwestern defense, picking the Pirates apart with inside-out passing for four assists in the third quarter as the Tigers hit 5-for-7 from deep to take a 66-43 lead after three.
Southwestern regained some traction in the fourth quarter, executing for 19 points and assisting on five of their seven made baskets with Woolfolk scoring four and Loryn Hernandez coming off the bench to score five.
Woolfolk finished with her fourth double-double of the season, grabbing 10 rebounds to go with her 21 points. Carraway had 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out three assists.
All five starters scored in double figures for Colorado, led by McKenzee Gertz's 17 points and seven rebounds. Casey Torbet had 15 points and six assists, and Jordan Meltzer, Jade Odom, and Nia Duplain each scored 10. Odom also contributed eight rebounds and six assists. Izzy Strigel had 10 points and four rebounds off the bench.
With the loss, the Pirates fall to 2-9 and 1-1 in conference play. Colorado College improves to 5-6 and 2-1 in conference. The Pirates will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 29 with a road game against Centenary College at 4:00 p.m.
