San Antonio – Trinity's 14th-ranked women's basketball team held off several comeback bids to earn an 87-79 victory over #19 Austin (TX) College on Saturday night.

GAME SUMMARY

Both teams shot better than 45% overall and over 44% from three-point range in the game, but the Tigers held a 28-9 advantage in points off turnovers. Trinity forced Austin into 19 total turnovers and recorded 14 steals in the game.

Trinity scored five straight points to take a 12-6 lead midway through the first quarter, but Austin battled back with seven straight points of its own to pull in front of the Tigers. After seven straight Trinity points put the home team in control again, Austin scored five points in the final 35 seconds to leave the Tigers with a slim 20-19 lead after one.

The second quarter began with another scoring run as Trinity rattled off 15 of the first 17 points to take a 35-21 lead after just four-plus minutes. The lead was still 14 just over two minutes later when Austin closed the quarter with a 9-2 run that made it a 42-35 Tiger lead at the half.

Austin drew within five points early in the third quarter, but Trinity scored eight straight points to push the lead back to 53-40 with just over four minutes left in the third. This time the Tigers closed the quarter strong, hitting two three-pointers in the last 90 seconds to take a 64-47 advantage into the final period.

Trinity led by 19 early in the fourth when Austin scored 10 straight points to cut that advantage down to single digits by the midway point. The Tigers continued to hold off the Kangaroos down the stretch and had the lead back to 11 with 2:09 to play. Trinity hit just 2-4 free throws on its next two possessions, leaving Austin a chance to get back in the game in the final minute.

Austin hit back-to-back threes around Jordan Rudd's two free throws to make it a 78-72 Trinity lead with 49 seconds left. Rudd was fouled twice in the next 13 seconds and knocked down 3-4 to push the lead back to nine point. A layup and a three-pointer took advantage of Trinity missing two free throws and the lead was down to 81-77 with 22 ticks left.

Emily Daniel made 3-4 at the line over the final 19 seconds to keep Trinity in front by five. Ashlyn Milton sealed the game with her steal on the inbounds in the final seconds, leading to a fast break layup with one second on the clock.

NOTABLES

Trinity has now won three straight games after having its 12-game winning streak snapped last weekend, improving a conference-best 13-1 SCAC record and an 18-1 overall mark. Austin lost for just the third time all season, falling to 17-3 overall and 11-3 in the SCAC.

The Tigers have handed Austin two of their three losses this season, sweeping the regular season series for the first time since 2016-17. Trinity has won three straight games in the series to improve to 23-17 overall against Austin.

Abby Holland scored a season-high 28 points to lead the Tigers, which moved her into second place in Trinity's career record books. Holland passes Murphy Burns (1,552 points from 2010-14) on the all-time list and has scored 1,559 points in her career.

Emily Daniel produced her sixth career 20-point game in tonight's win, hitting 7-11 from the field and 5-8 from three-point range to reach 22 points.

Julia Ackerman knocked down four three-point baskets to score 12 points, while Kelly Simmons added six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

Jordan Rudd had another strong overall game with nine points, six rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. She has tallied eight assists in a game three times this season, which ties her career-high. Rudd also moved into eighth all-time in career assists at Trinity.

Ashlyn Milton rounded out four Tiger players to reach double figures with 10 points off the bench, adding four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

UP NEXT

The Tigers begin the first of three straight road games at 7:30 p.m. (MST) on Friday, February 14, against Johnson & Wales (CO) University.