BROWNWOOD, Texas – No. 5/6 Trinity University Women's Basketball improved to three straight road victories to open the 2022-23 campaign Friday night with a 72-59 tally at Howard Payne University.
The Tigers (3-0) were powered by a pair of double-digit scoring performances between a career-high 14 points from sophomore
Bailey Timmons (Argyle, Texas / Argyle) and 12 more from senior
Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo).
Trinity forced plenty of transition play between four steals each from sophomore
Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) and junior
Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano). Robbins and Milton each tied for the second-most rebounds for the Tigers Friday night, behind first-year
Natalie Anderson's (San Jose, Calif. / Archbishop Mitty) seven boards.
The Tigers have won their last 27 regular-season contests, 14
th straight away from home, with Friday's victory.
No. 5/6 Women's Basketball will host Sul Ross State University Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at Calgaard Gym to open the home schedule for the 2022-23 campaign.
The Rundown
The Tigers jumped out to a 7-2 lead in a little-over three minutes with three baskets in the paint, twice converting on turnovers. During the opening run, Robbins collected three points, two assists, two steals and an offensive rebound to be responsible for all of the first seven points.
The opening breakaway continued to Trinity's first double-digit lead, 16-5, just past the halfway point of the first period. After
Addie Putnam (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Xavier Prep) responded to a Howard Payne three-pointer at the end of the first Tiger run,
Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown) posted the next seven Trinity points, converting an and-one to reach the 11-point advantage.
With the Tigers' second line on the floor, the game took a back-and-forth approach with Trinity briefly marking its largest lead of the first half, 26-12, on a Timmons jumper for her to give her seven points off the bench by the end of the quarter.
An
Emily Nelson (Sugar Land, Texas / Saint Agnes) three-ball put the Tigers back to the first-half best 14-point lead, 38-24, with three minutes to go before the intermission but the Yellow Jackets scraped together an 8-0 run over the next 90 seconds to pull back to within six points, 38-32, at the break.
The second-half starters put the clamps back on Howard Payne as Napoli collected her second steal of the game on the first Yellow Jacket possession to spring the Tigers for the start of a 13-1 run that ran through the first five minutes of the third quarter, 51-33 Trinity.
By the end of the opening run of the second half, four Tigers had reached nine points: Robbins, Shipley, Timmons and Milton. Milton was the first to reach double-figures on a free throw 90 seconds later. Timmons became the second across the double-digit threshold with Trinity's third made three-pointer with 2:19 to play in the third for the Tigers' largest lead of the game to that point, 59-40.
Trinity ended the third with a 7-2 run that saw Timmons reach a career-high 14 points with a pair of free throws, capped by a
Claire Hale (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) three-pointer for the first 20-point advantage of the night, 66-45 in favor of the Tigers.
Milton pushed her total to 12 points on the first bucket of the fourth quarter, but then the lid went on the basket for Trinity until a
Skye O'Rourke (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) free throw broke the scoreless spell with just-over a minute to go.
Up Next
No. 5/6 Trinity Women's Basketball will open up the 2022-23 home schedule Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. when Sul Ross visits San Antonio, the first of three home matchups in an eight-day window as No. 18 Hardin-Simmons University visits Saturday, LeTourneau University Sunday.
