MARSHALL, Texas – Trinity's sixth-ranked women's basketball team opened up the 2023-24 season with an 84-74 win over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday night.

The Tigers have now won the season opener five of the last six years and have won eight straight meetings with the Crusaders, dating back to the 2010-11 season. Each of the last three matchups has been decided by double figures, including last year's 74-63 win in San Antonio.

The two teams were basically deadlocked after the first two quarters, with Trinity holding a slim 35-34 lead. After UMHB took control things with a 24-13 edge and a 10-point lead after the third quarter, the Tigers exploded with a 36-point fourth to pull away with the win.

Trinity was led by sophomore Natalie Anderson (San Jose, Calif. / Archbishop Mitty) who poured in a career-high 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting, more than doubling her previous career-best of 10 points last year. Anderson also led the Tigers with nine rebounds to tie her single-game best from last season, as well as pacing the defensive effort with three steals.

The Tigers shot better than 45% from the field in the game as a team, as well as knocking down 15-of-17 free throw (88.2%) and connecting on 11-for-28 (39.3%) from distance. Trinity also recorded 11 steals on its way to forcing 22 turnovers, holding UMHB under 40% shooting overall and below 30% shooting from three-point range.

Tiger rookie Jamie Ruede (Pipe Creek, Texas / Boerne) scored 15 points in her collegiate debut, while senior Jennifer Tierney (Orinda, Calif. / Miramar) also had 12 points off the bench. Both players nailed four three-pointers each, with Ruede also dishing out three assists and a pair of steals.

Junior Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) and senior Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) finished with five assists each to lead the team, with Napoli also chipping in with 10 points.
Skye O'Rourke (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) hit 5-of-6 free throws on her way to seven points in just nine minutes of action, while Bailey Timmons (Argyle, Texas / Argyle) collected four rebounds for the Tigers.

The Rundown
Trinity got off to a rough start in the first quarter, falling behind by five points less than three minutes into the game. The Tigers scored six straight on a three-point play from Anderson and a three-pointer by Napoli to take a slight lead at 9-8 near the midway point of the period. Trinity scored just four points the rest of the quarter, though, and UMHB led 16-13 after one.

The Tigers again battled back for a brief lead in the opening moments of the second, but Mary Hardin-Baylor caught fire and went on a 14-4 run to take a nine-point lead with just under six minutes left in the half. That's when Tierney nailed back-to-back threes and had a block on defense in between to spark a 9-0 run for the Tigers. Napoli and Robbins picked up assists on the Tierney triples, then Napoli tied things up 30-all with a three-pointer of her own. The teams went back and forth over the next few minutes, though Ruede had the final say with a three-pointer with 33 seconds left to put Trinity in front 35-34 at the break.

Anderson helped the Tigers keep pace with a pair of early buckets in the third quarter, but UMHB scored eight unanswered to push it back to a nine-point lead again at the midway point. Anderson's steal and fastbreak layup broke up the run and Trinity rallied to within four at the 3:00 mark. The Cru then scored 10 of the final 14 to take its biggest lead of the game at 58-48 with just 10 minutes left in the game.

The fourth quarter began with a game-changing run by the Tigers, which was of course led by Anderson. She scored 10 of Trinity's 13 straight points to start the fourth quarter and the Tigers took a 61-58 lead with 5:26 left in the game. Trinity never trailed again, though UMHB was still within reach down just four points (69-65) just over two minutes later. Any hopes of a comeback were squashed by a 12-0 run that put the game out of reach at 81-65 with just 68 seconds to go. UMHB hit three three-pointers in the final minute-plus, but it was not nearly enough after the 36-point quarter by the Tigers.

Up Next
Trinity will run it back tomorrow afternoon with a game against East Texas Baptist University, host of the opening weekend of the year for the TU Tigers. Trinity and ETBU tip off at 1:00 p.m.