Women's Basketball Defeats Rhodes to Advance in SCAC Tournament

Jackson, Miss. - The Trinity Tigers women opened the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament with an 85-51 victory over the Rhodes Lynx Friday night at Millsaps College.
 
Trinity (14-12), seeded No, 2 in the West Division, meets defending champion and 10th-ranked DePauw (No. 1 in the East) in the semifinals at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers beat DePauw 68--59 on Jan. 21 in San Antonio. DePauw was a 67-42 winner over Colorado College (No. 4 West) in Friday's quarterfinals.
 
The Tigers, who won their fifth straight game, defeated Rhodes (No. 3 East) 77-66 on Jan. 28 in Memphis. Rhodes (No. 3 East) completed its season with a 9-16 record.
 
Trinity junior forward Abby Dietert (Cibolo, Texas/Steele) led Friday's game with 16 points. Dietert shot 7-10 from the field, and pulled in a Tiger-high eight rebounds.
 
First-year forward Libby Kruse (Minnetrista, N.M./Orona) added 13 points (shooting 6-6 from the floor), six rebounds, and three steals. Nicolette Halbleib (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) , a first-year guard, had 12 points (2-4 shooting of 3-pointers) and two steals. Senior guard Danielle Hubenak (San Antonio/Churchill) dished out a game-best five assists, and made two steals.
 
Trinity held a 36-28 lead at halftime, and was relentless in the second half. The Tigers outscored the Lynx 25-9, to lead 61-37 with 11:19 on the clock. Rhodes came no closer than 22 points after that mark, and the Tigers largest lead was 37 points (85-48, 1:21).
 
The Tigers' bench was dominating, outscoring the Rhodes subs 34-2, including a 29-0 stat in the second half.
 
Sharwil Bell paced Rhodes with 14 points and nine rebounds. Amy Handelman scored 12 points, and also accounted for nine rebounds.
 
The sharp-shooting Tigers hit 50.7 percent (36-71) from the field, and limited the Lynx to 29.5 percent (18-61). Trinity led 45-38 in rebounding. The Lynx committed 23 turnovers, and Trinity made 18.