The Millsaps Lady Majors continued their recent trend of “close but no cigar” on a weekend (1/16 and 1/18/04) road trip to the Lone Star state. Facing two of the top teams in the SCAC, Millsaps lost to Southwestern, 68-63, and Trinity, 58-52. The Majors fell to 3-12, 0-5 in league play. Southwestern improved to 9-6, 4-1, while Trinity jumped to 13-1, 5-0.
In their last 5 games, Millsaps has lost in overtime by 7, and dropped games by 9, 4, 5, and 6 points. The heartbreaking losses are extremely hard to stomach, but the Majors continue to keep their heads up and battle as they seek to right the ship and make the SCAC tournament, which will include the 8 league teams with the best conference records.
On Friday against the Pirates of Southwestern, the Majors fell behind early and never caught up. They trailed by 9 at the break. Southwestern looked to blow away Millsaps as they built a seemingly safe 23 point bulge at 56-33. But Millsaps showed their resiliency by staying focused and ran off 11 unanswered points to cut the lead to 56-44. But it was a case of too little too late as the final deficit of 68-63 was as close as the Majors would come.
Jillian Compton continued her stellar play by pouring in 22 points on 57% shooting. Leslie Frese was the only other Major in double figures with 12. Frese and Martha McDaniel led the team with 5 boards each.
Erika Dunkman paced the Pirates with 16 followed by Erin Nelson with 10. Nelson and Rex Ann Shotwell had 5 rebounds apiece.
Millsaps showed great improvement in their shooting as they converted 53.5% from the floor. However, the turnover bugaboo bit hard as the Majors committed 24 miscues.