SAN ANTONIO – The No. 4/4 Trinity women's basketball team survived a tough defensive battle with Texas Lutheran University on Friday night, as Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) dropped in a layup with 3.1 seconds left to lift the Tigers to the 61-59 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference victory.

Trinity (23-1, 14-1) remains atop the SCAC standings with the win, which also gives Trinity a regular season series sweep of Texas Lutheran. The Bulldogs (13-10, 9-6) held the Tigers to their lowest point total of the season and rallied for a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie things up in the closing minutes.

Despite the comeback, Trinity never trailed in the final quarter. The game was tied again with 37 seconds left, but the Tigers turned the ball over to the Bulldogs with 19 seconds to play. Texas Lutheran worked the ball down to the baseline, but the ensuing pass sailed towards midcourt with no TLU players around. Robbins picked up the loose ball in stride and raced in for the game-winning layup.

Robbins led the team with 11 points and was the only Tiger to reach double figures in the low-scoring game. She also tied for the team lead with four rebounds and three assists, despite being limited to just 23 minutes of play due to foul trouble. A'Nnika Saenz (Edinburg, Texas / Edinburg) nailed 3-of-5 from three-point range to score nine points in just 15 minutes off the bench.

Trinity will remain at home for tomorrow's regular season finale, hosting Southwestern University on Senior Day. Tiger seniors Emily Nelson (Sugar Land, Texas / Saint Agnes Academy), Addie Putnam (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Xavier College Prep), Claire Hale (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis), Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo), Danielle Davalos (Austin, Texas / Westwood), and Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown) will be honored prior to the game.

The Rundown
The game didn't start off like a defensive struggle as the teams combined to make the first five shots of the game. Trinity's first miss led to a dry spell that left the Tigers on the wrong end of a 13-6 game with just under six minutes to go in the first quarter. Trinity held Texas Lutheran scoreless after that, though, and tied the game 13-13 on a three-pointer from Saenz with 2:16 remaining. Neither team scored again in the quarter and points would remain at a premium in the second.

Trinity took its first lead of the game in the opening moments of the second quarter as Robbins drove in for a layup to make it a 15-13 game. Texas Lutheran was held scoreless for just over three minutes to start the period, but the Tigers only scored once more during that stretch and led by just four points. The Bulldogs tied things up with four free throws, then knotted the score 19-19 with their first field goal – nearly five minutes into the quarter.

Texas Lutheran reclaimed the lead with three points on back-to-back possessions as Trinity was in the midst of its own dry spell offensively. The Tigers held the visitors scoreless the rest of the half, edging back in front with back-to-back buckets around the two-minute mark. Neither team scored in the final 1:50 of the half and Trinity held a slight 23-22 lead at the break.

The second half began with the Bulldogs converting a pair of free throws to ease back in front, but the quarter belonged to the Tigers. Trinity answered that initial score with 10 straight points to take a 33-24 lead with just over six minutes left. Texas Lutheran cut it to just two less than two minutes later, but back-to-back threes from Nelson and Saenz pushed it back to an eight-point margin. The lead was down to four in the final 25 seconds, but Milton hit a pair of free throws and Saenz banked in a buzzer-beating three to lift Trinity to a 48-39 lead heading into the final period.

The final quarter began with Texas Lutheran converting a three-point play, but Trinity had the lead to double digits just over two minutes into it. The margin was still eight a couple of minutes after that when the Bulldogs scored nine of the next 10 points to tie things up 55-55 with 1:52 to play. Shipley put the Tigers back in front with two free throws on the next possession, but the game was tied again as TLU immediately got two foul shots of its own. Putnam made it a 59-57 Tiger lead with a near-wing jump shot with 1:06 remaining. Texas Lutheran tied it up one more time before the final sequence that led to Robbins scoring the game-winner. The Bulldogs missed a contested baseline jumper at the buzzer and the Tigers escaped with the win.

Coach Speak
"Dom Toretto said it best: 'I live my life a quarter mile at a time,'" began Head Coach Cameron Hill. "Fast and Furious reference for the uninitiated. Coaching the second half of conference is very similar, we live our life one quarter at a time. We try to learn as we go and make appropriate adjustments. The third was special, but TLU also had NOS in their engine. Just like in the movie, we escaped just in the nick of time, but I will say, this was the perfect game for us this time of year. Especially if we plan to have nine sequels. ONWARD!"

Up Next
Trinity will host Southwestern University in the regular season finale tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. The Tigers will also host next weekend's SCAC Tournament, held February 24-26.