The Oglethorpe women's basketball team nabbed their second SAA championship in the last three years, and the third conference title in program history, with an 84-67 victory over second-seeded Rhodes Sunday at Dorough Field House. The victory tied the Stormy Petrels' program record for most wins in a season, moving them to 27-1 on the year. It also earned them an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship marking their third consecutive, and seventh overall, appearance at the event.
The top-seeded Petrels enjoyed several outstanding performances led by junior center Savannah LeGate, who earned SAA Tournament MVP honors for her efforts. Those included a 24-point, 12-rebound performance Sunday, as she went 11-for-14 from the field. Sophomore guard Nikki Reed also earned a spot on the all-tournament team, scoring 14 points while adding three assists and three steals Sunday.
Two Petrels earned career-high point totals. Junior forward Audrey Burdge posted 19 points on 7-of-12 from the field while grabbing eight boards. Senior guard Morgan Grindle joined her, going 5-for-7 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line to score 18 points while also passing out three assists.
Oglethorpe got off to an outstanding start, going on a 17-8 run over the opening 5:50. LeGate was dominant in the first quarter, scoring 12 points on 6-of-8 from the field and grabbing five rebounds. Rhodes came back with an 8-2 run late in the quarter to make it 19-16 at the 47-second mark, but the Petrels led 21-16 at the end of the period.
The Petrels pushed back ahead by 7 points early in the period, but the visitors fought back to make it 27-25 at the 5-minute mark. The teams continued to trade mini-runs for the rest of the quarter, but Rhodes pulled to within a point, 34-33, by the halftime break.
The Lynx took their first lead of the game on the first possession of the second half, getting a 2-point bucket to edge ahead 35-34. It turned out to be their only lead of the game. The Petrels began a 15-5 run and pushed out to a 50-39 advantage with 4:15 left in the third quarter. After 3 straight Rhodes points, they then pushed their lead back out to 58-47 to end the period.
With 10 minutes standing between Oglethorpe and the SAA title, they buckled down and put the game away over the final period, going 7-for-10 from the field. They slowly pulled away to a lead as large as 18 points with 2 minutes remaining, cruising to the 17-point victory.
The Petrels finished at an outstanding 54.7 percent shooting for the game, holding Rhodes to 38.3 percent in the process. The Lynx stayed in it for awhile by shooting at a 93.3 percent clip from the charity stripe, but Oglethorpe outscored them 46-14 in the paint. The home side outrebounded the visitors 38-25.
Oglethorpe completed a perfect 17-0 sweep of their SAA opponents in 2019-20, winning all 14 regular season games and all three tournament contests.
They'll now wait to see their draw for the NCAA tournament. The NCAA will announce the 64-team field Monday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., with the selection show broadcast on NCAA.com.