SAN ANTONIO – No. 4/4 Trinity University Women's Basketball will host University of Dallas (Feb. 10) and Austin College (Feb. 11) for the first two of four straight home Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference matchups to conclude the 2022-23 regular season.
The Tigers (20-1, 11-1 SCAC) had their first stumble of the campaign Sunday afternoon, 70-64, at fellow SCAC frontrunner Colorado College (15-6, 11-1 SCAC), leaving the new program record for best undefeated start to a season at 20 victories.
Three non-conference matchups this season still standout on Trinity's resume thus far as the Tigers' home-and-home sweep with No. 8/9 Hardin-Simmons University continues to gain value as those matchups represent the only losses for the Cowgirls this season. Trinity's 78-69 victory No. 13/16 University of Puget Sound on December 21 puts the Tigers in the driver's seat in Region 10 with victories over the region's next two highest ranked squads per the national polls.
Trinity can clinch a first-round bye in the 2023 SCAC Championship tournament this weekend with just one more conference win as the Tigers hold a three-game advantage over third-place Schreiner University (12-9, 8-4 SCAC) with four games to go. This season's six-team championship tournament will be held in San Antonio February 24-26.
No. 4/4 Trinity Women's Basketball will host Texas Lutheran University (12-9, 8-5 SCAC) and Southwestern University (9-12, 6-7 SCAC) next Friday and Saturday to conclude the 2022-23 regular season, with the February 18 bout against the Pirates selected as Senior Day.
NCAA III Polls – D3hoops.com, WBCA Agree on No. 4
Following Sunday's road loss, both D3hoops.com and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association placed Trinity as the No. 4 squad in NCAA III, behind only the three remaining undefeated teams around the nation.
NCAA III Regional Rankings: The Alphabetical Release
The NCAA announced regional "rankings" Wednesday afternoon with Trinity listed among the top seven for Region 10. The initial regional ranking release features the top seven listed alphabetically with the first true rank-order release to come the following week.
Alongside Trinity from the SCAC is Colorado College, along with a trio of American Southwest Conference programs in Hardin-Simmons, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and East Texas Baptist, Puget Sound as the Northwest Conference representative and University of California-Santa Cruz from the Coast-2-Coast Conference.
Notably, no member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was listed, though the league will occupy at least one spot in the 2023 NCAA III tournament through its automatic qualifying bid.
Preview: Dallas (Feb. 10), Austin (Feb. 11)
Junior
Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) remains amongst the NCAA III elite this season, ranked fourth in NCAA III in total and per-game steals while also being one of just 21 players nationally to log a triple-double this season (v. St. Thomas, Jan. 21). Robbins has moved into fourth all-time at Trinity for single-season steals and is just the second player to reach 90 in a season.
Senior
Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) also has a top-five national ranking to her credit thus far as NCAA III's fifth-best mark in three-point percentage (45.2), a mark that would crush Trinity's season record if the 2022-23 campaign were to end today. Milton is also tied for sixth in the season three-pointers list at 56 makes thus far and is just seven away from occupying the top two spots all-time as she currently holds both the season (78; 2021-22) and career (211) records for long-range makes.
Milton leads a Tiger quartet averaging in double-digits this season, followed by 11.8 points per contest from sophomore
Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic), 10.7 per game from senior
Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown) and 10.1 per game from senior
Addie Putnam (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Xavier). Shipley and Putnam both vaulted back into double-figures for the season through their play last week:
- Shipley logged a season-high 23 points in Sunday's loss, her fourth game with 19 or more points since the calendar flipped to 2023, all while coming off the bench.
- Putnam was the only Tiger to put up double-digit points in each of last week's games, clocking in with the second-highest total for Trinity in both games: 15 points at Schreiner, 12 points at Colorado College. In addition, Putnam put up eight rebounds in each contest to improve her team-high mark to 5.05 per contest.
On the Crusaders: At 6-7 in SCAC play this season, Dallas is in the thick of the conference fight at the cutoff line for the six-team championship tournament at the end of the month, tied with Southwestern for fifth and a game ahead of St. Thomas.
The Crusaders have won three of the last four and were two points shy of four straight in a home loss to Colorado College. Last Saturday, Dallas made a big stride in the postseason race, knocking out the Celts, 73-41.
Of note for the Crusaders, first-year Jordan Gillespie ranks just outside the top-50 in NCAA III in total blocks (36) and blocks per game (1.71) and is third in the SCAC with 163 rebounds this season.
On the Kangaroos: Austin will enter the weekend still in search of its first win in SCAC play this season with a Friday stop in Kerrville, Texas ahead of Saturday afternoon's visit to Calgaard Gym.
Trinity has won nine of its last 10 against the 'Roos since February of 2019 in an era of Austin's program that featured finishes of fourth or better in the SCAC standings from 2015-16 through last season.
Junior Megan O'Neil will be a Kangaroo to watch as she ranks 28
th in NCAA III in made three-pointers and 34
th in three-point attempts this season.
Looking Ahead: Senior Day & the SCAC Tournament
No. 4/4 Trinity Women's Basketball will host Texas Lutheran and Southwestern next weekend to conclude the 2022-23 regular season, with the Saturday battle against the Pirates representing Senior Day for the Tigers.
The 2023 SCAC Championship tournament tips off Friday, February 24 in the Bell Center.
