SAN ANTONIO – Trinity's women's basketball team clinched the top seed in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with its 72-52 victory over Texas Lutheran University on Wednesday night.

The Tigers extended their streak to 19 straight games with the win, while also reaching 20 victories for the ninth time in 10 seasons under Head Coach Cameron Hill. The only time Trinity has not reached 20 wins under Coach Hill was last spring when the team played just 12 total games.

Trinity had a balanced scoring night as all five starters scored nine or more points in the game. Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) and Hailey Coleman (Kansas City, Mo. / St. Teresa's Academy) led the way with 14 points each. Coleman added seven rebounds and two assists, while Robbins also paced the Tigers with four assists to go with her four rebounds.

The game wraps up a tough string of four games in five days for Trinity, leaving just three more games on the regular season schedule. The Tigers will play their final home game on Saturday evening, then hit the road to face Schreiner University and the University of Dallas.

The Rundown

Trinity led wire-to-wire in the game, opening the first quarter with a 9-0 run that was jump-started by a three-point bucket from Ava Limonciello (Waltham, Mass. / St. Mark's School). The Tiger defense held Texas Lutheran scoreless for nearly four minutes to start the game, but the Bulldogs scored six of the next eight to cut the lead down to five with under four minutes to play. The Tigers clamped down defensively after that, holding the visitors to zero field goals over the final 3:51 of the period. Texas Lutheran did get three late free throws to make it a 14-9 Trinity lead after the first quarter.

The two teams traded scoring punches early in the second quarter until TLU strung together a pair of baskets to cut the lead to just three points. Trinity scored eight of the next 10 points to go back in front by nine with 3:23 left in the half, finished off by a three-pointer from Robbins. Though the Bulldogs again cut the lead to five points, Trinity scored the final four points of the half to take a 34-25 lead into the locker room. Coleman scored the final points of the period, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds in the first half of play.

Texas Lutheran got the first score of the third quarter, but it was all Trinity from there, beginning a three-pointer from Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo). That sparked a 9-1 run that ended with another Milton triple, giving the Tigers a 15-point margin less than three minutes into the second half.

The lead grew as high as 17 points with under four minutes left in the quarter, and the final margin was also 17 after Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown) scored six straight Trinity points that included the final two buckets of the period. That put the Tigers ahead 55-38 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game. Shipley finished with 10 points of Trinity's 21 points in the quarter.

Trinity answered two Texas Lutheran free throws with back-to-back scores to start the fourth quarter and the lead grew to 19 points. The Bulldogs tried to rally with two straight scores of their own to make it a 14-point game, but six unanswered Tiger points – four by Coleman – pushed the lead to 20 points with 4:21 remaining. Texas Lutheran hit back-to-back three-pointers to get the lead back to 14 just over a minute later, but Trinity scored seven of the final eight points to put the game away.

Numbers to Note

Coleman hit 7-of-12 from the field on her way to 14 points, while Robbins connected on 4-of-6 field goals and went 5-for-7 at the free throw line.

Limonciello hit 3-for-7 from beyond the arc, finishing with nine points and tying her career-high for three-pointers made.

Shipley finished with 12 points to give Trinity three players in double figures, adding five boards, two assists, and two steals to her stat line. She hit 4-of-7 from the field and missed just one free throw among five attempts.

Milton hit 2-of-4 from distance to help her finish with nine points in the game, as well as collecting four rebounds. Milton now has 58 three-pointers made this season, which is the fourth-most in school history. She is four away from tying the record set by Murphy Burns (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Heritage Hall) in 2012-13.

Kelly Simmons (Washington, D.C. / Antonian) led the team with nine rebounds in her 22 minutes off the bench for the Tigers.

Julia Ackerman (Orange County, Calif. / JSerra Prep) dished out a pair of assists in the game, moving her to fifth in school history with 296 in her career.

Coach Speak

"When you have the kind of night we had last night, The Hangover is always a concern," began Coach Hill after the win. "But I ask you: what do tigers dream of, when they take a little tiger snooze? Do they dream of mauling zebra, or just beating up on TLU's? Don't you worry your pretty striped head, we're gonna get this team a day off and come back to play again. The Wolf Pack will recharge and return ready to go on Saturday."

Up Next

Trinity will conclude its regular season home schedule by hosting Southwestern University on Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. The Tigers will celebrate their five seniors prior to the game.