SAN ANTONIO – The 10th-ranked Trinity women's basketball team powered past the University of Dallas with a 100-62 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference victory on Saturday night.

The Tigers remained undefeated in SCAC play with a 4-0 record, as well as earning the team's eighth win in nine games to start the season. Dallas fell to 7-5 overall and dropped to 2-2 in conference with the loss. Trinity holds a commanding 46-4 record against the Crusaders and tonight's win was the 24th straight in the series.

Natalie Anderson (San Jose, Calif. / Archbishop Mitty) led Trinity with 21 points and a career-high 20 rebounds in just 25 minutes on the floor. She is the first Tiger player with a 20-20 game since Meghan Scholbe did it against UT-Dallas in November of 2007, and she is just the third Trinity player to do it in nearly 23 years. Megan Nugent also had a 20-20 game in February of 2000 for the Tigers. Anderson hit 8-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 at the foul line, and her offensive rebounds alone (7) would have led the team in tonight's game. Tonight marks the 11th time a Tiger player has posted 20 rebounds in a game, though Anderson is just the eighth Trinity player to do so.

Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) added 13 points and three assists, while Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) finished with 11 points and four assists in the game. A'nnika Saenz (Edinburg, Texas / Edinburg) led Trinity's bench scoring with a career-high 12 points, while Maddie Mueller (Houston, Texas / Concordia Lutheran) finished with 10 points to give the Tigers five players in double figures.

Bailey Timmons (Argyle, Texas / Argyle) contributed nine points off the bench, including a late three-pointer that put Trinity at the century mark for the first time this season. Kylie Minter (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) and Jamie Ruede (Pipe Creek, Texas / Boerne) chipped in with eight points each.

All 12 Trinity players who appeared in the game scored and the Tigers finished the game with 34 points off of 20 turnovers forced. Trinity shot just under 46% from the field in the game and connected on 78.4% (29-of-37) free throws in a foul-heavy game. Dallas was limited to just 33.3% shooting and only 23.1% (3-for-13) from three-point range.

The Rundown
Though Dallas got the opening points of the game, it was all Trinity from the start. Anderson had three rebounds, two steals, and six points during a 14-2 Tiger run to answer the opening basket, giving Trinity a double-digit lead less than five minutes into the game. The lead was 11 points in the final minute of the first quarter, but Dallas scored five of the final six points to cut it to a 22-15 game after one.

The Tigers made sure the game never got any closer than that, outscoring the visitors 26-8 in the second quarter alone. Included in that quarter was a 14-0 run by Trinity that began with back-to-back threes from Ruede and Napoli. Saenz scored Trinity's final eight points of the first half of play and the Tigers led 48-23 at the break.

After halftime, Dallas came out with four quick points in the first minute of the third quarter, but Trinity responded with 10 straight points to quiet any hopes of an historic rally. Robbins and Napoli had five points each in the run that made it a 58-27 lead just over three minutes into the period. Mueller scored seven of Trinity's final 10 points of the quarter and the Tigers led 76-42 heading into the fourth. Despite having its two best quarters to close out the game, Dallas was still outscored 52-39 in the second half, and never got closer than 31 points over the final period.

Coach Speak
"There is a line in a song that I really like, where the artist talks about having four Grammys, but 100 nominations," began Head Coach Cameron Hill. "That ratio means a lot to me, because given the choice, I'm taking the nominations as a measure of undeniable consistency. It's also more of a team metric.  Music is never one person, but the Grammy goes to the artist, not the team. The nominations somehow feel more respectful to everyone who was a part of the brilliance. That's this team, some people really want the four Grammys, others respect the 100 nominations! No pun intended. ONWARD!"

Up Next
The Tigers will hit the road next week and will play its final four games of the 2023 calendar year away from home. Trinity begins its road trip at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. There, the Tigers will face off against Willamette University (OR) on Tuesday, December 19, at 4:00 p.m. (PT). Trinity will then play Puget Sound on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. (PT), prior to competing in the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas on December 28 and 29.