SEGUIN, Texas – No. 2/3 Trinity University Women's Basketball notched its 28^th consecutive victory in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season competition Friday night at Texas Lutheran University, 76-65.
 
The Tigers (16-0, 7-0 SCAC) improved to its best start to any season since joining the SCAC ahead of the 1991-92 season, now two games ahead of the previous mark of 14-straight to open the 2016-17 campaign that saw its undefeated start clipped by a visit to the Bulldogs in the second weekend of January.
 
Sophomore Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) led the way offensively with her first 20-point game as a Tiger, a 23-point barrage that featured 15 tallies through the first 20 minutes. Napoli had posted seven double-digit outings ahead of Friday's affair, though she reached the 20-point threshold four times in her rookie campaign at Pacific Lutheran University.
 
Junior Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) marked 15 points as the second of three Trinity players in double-digits as she added team-highs in steals (4) and assists (4) while drawing eight of the Bulldogs' 28 personal fouls in the contest.
 
Senior Addie Putnam (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Xavier Prep) rounds out the double-figure scorers with 10 points as she came one rebound shy of a double-double, tying for the game-high off the glass with fellow senior Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo).
 
The Tigers spent over 35 minutes of the contest in the lead, marking their largest advantage of 19 points, 54-35, with just under 12 minutes to go.
 
No. 2/3 Trinity Women's Basketball concludes its four-game SCAC getaway tomorrow evening at Southwestern University.
 
The Rundown
 
The Tigers gave an early step to their host Friday night but, in a window less than two minutes, dropped an 8-0 run on the Bulldogs to double them up, 10-5, ahead of the first media break of the contest. Back-to-back bombs from Napoli and Putnam sprung the Tigers in the run capped by a steal-and-score transition layup from Robbins.
 
The largest advantage of quarter came eight minutes in, 17-10, as rookie Skye O'Rourke (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) cashed in on a Napoli steal through the third Robbins assist already to that point. O'Rourke would later improve the largest spread to eight, 35-27, with eight seconds left in the half though that high mark did not make it to intermission.
 
Texas Lutheran rallied to end the first period down just 19-17 and came out of the quarter break to knot things up on its first bucket. A methodical 10-3 run began following the second-quarter deadlock. Napoli reached double-figures on her fourth point during the run just past the midway point of the second as Robbins (4) and junior Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown) aided the run.
 
The new largest lead came from the free throw line as O'Rourke knocked down her first attempt. On an ensuing inbound, thanks to a Napoli offensive rebound from the second O'Rourke attempt, Shipley looked for a last-second tip-in and, after review, was granted a trip to the line herself where she made the halftime score, 36-27.
 
The game was broken wide open thanks to a 16-4 run for the Tigers through the heart of the third quarter, leading to the largest lead of the ballgame, 54-35, at 1:50 remaining on the game clock. Seven Trinity players appeared in the scoring column during the run including four points Robbins, which pushed her into double digits for the night.
 
Over the next seven minutes, the Bulldogs clawed their way back to as close as four points, 63-59, at the final media break. Trinity immediately answered with a 9-0 run that featured seven points from the free throw line, effectively closing the book on Friday's SCAC contest.
 
Coach Speak
 
"Always fun to win in Seguin," Head Coach Cameron Hill said. "Gotta get ready for tomorrow, so I think instead of walk-through we will just do a Tae Bo class."

Up Next
 
No. 2/3 Trinity Women's Basketball visits Southwestern in continued conference play tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.
 
The Tigers then host six of their final eight regular-season contests starting with the weekend visits of Centenary College (Jan. 20) and University of St. Thomas (Jan. 21).