SAN ANTONIO – No. 4/5 Trinity University Women's Basketball will battle University of Texas-Dallas Friday (8:00 p.m.) as the nightcap for the first round of the 2023 NCAA III Women's Basketball Championship San Antonio Regional as it also welcomes No. 14/12 Hardin-Simmons University and University of Redlands (CA) as the first contest of the weekend (5:30 p.m.).
 
The Tigers (26-1) enter the program's fourth home NCAA III regional pod fresh-off the program's 10^th Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship—the seventh, and third straight, under Head Coach Cameron Hill—as they rendered a 15-1 record in league play for the regular-season title.
 
Trinity dominated its two matchups in the SCAC postseason, defeating Texas Lutheran University, 77-62, in Saturday's semifinal followed by Sunday's 64-54 victory in the league finale over Colorado College. Both contests saw the Tigers log 20-plus point leads in the fourth quarter.
 
NCAA III Women's Basketball San Antonio Regional Championship
Sunday's selection of Trinity for host duties is marked the fourth time since 2003 that the program will host NCAA III postseason competition, the first since the unfinished 2020 tournament.
 
Tickets to this season's San Antonio regional will be available for in-person purchase only. Admission to Friday's contests will begin at 4:00 p.m. with Saturday's sales beginning at 6:00 p.m. General admission tickets will be 10 dollars, while senior citizens, children and students of participating institutions (with valid identification) will gain entry for seven dollars.
 
The Trinity University Student Government Association has sponsored ticket sales for all Trinity students for the entire San Antonio regional, a feat the organization accomplished for home NCAA III regionals for both Tiger Women's Soccer and Football in the fall.
 
Digital programs for both the 2023 NCAA III Women's Basketball Championship and this weekend's regional, along with media-related information, can be found at the NCAA III San Antonio Regional tournament homepage at TrinityTigers.com, linked above.
 
SCAC Honor Roll: Milton Captures Conference Player of the Year
Senior Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) headlined a five-Tiger group in the All-SCAC announcement following Saturday's second conference semifinal as she was joined on the first team by senior Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown).
 
Junior Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) and sophomore Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) occupied spots on the conference's third team while senior Addie Putnam (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Xavier) checked in as an honorable mention.
 
Milton is the 15^th SCAC Player of the Year in program history as her selection marked the eighth player under Coach Hill's leadership to earn the distinction and retained Trinity's possession of the award from Hailey Coleman '22.
 
Milton, Shipley and Napoli were named to the All-SCAC Championship team with Milton tabbed the SCAC Championship Most Valuable Player, the fifth different Tiger in Coach Hill's tenure to do so joining Robbins as active players to have earned the title.
 
NCAA III Rankings: No Change After National Conference Tournament Weekend
While the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) was the poll that denied the Tigers the nation's top ranking in January, the NCAA III coaches have Trinity listed higher than the recent D3hoops.com poll as the program landed fourth and fifth, respectively, in this week's releases.
 
Hardin-Simmons checked in 14^th in this week's WBCA poll, 12^th by D3hoops.com as the other nationally-ranked team in this weekend's regional. UT-Dallas returned to the D3hoops.com release this week as the Comets received their first vote in the poll since January 31, 2022.
 
Trinity remained the top-ranked team in the NCAA's final regional rankings this week, followed by Hardin-Simmons, Colorado College and American Southwest Conference (ASC) Champion UT-Dallas. The other two conference champions in the region (Redlands, Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Whitman College (WA), Northwest Conference) were not listed in the top seven of Region 10.
 
Season-to-Date: Tigers Record Another All-Time Regular Season
Trinity recorded the longest undefeated start in program history this season, knocking off each of its first 20 opponents. During that streak, the Tigers claimed four contests against nationally ranked opponents (then-No. 18 Hardin-Simmons, twice; then-No. 12 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; then-No. 14 University of Puget Sound).
 
The first of the undefeated streak, the 2022-23 road-opener at Birmingham-Southern College, marked the largest single-game point total in school history with a 140-87 victory on November 11. Had it not been for No. 6/7 Hope College's (MI) 143-57 home-opener against Geneva College (PA) that finished less than an hour before the TU-BSC contest, Trinity's 140 points would have been the most scored by a NCAA III team against another NCAA III team in NCAA history.
 
The Birmingham-Southern matchup was also an emphatic "welcome back" for Putnam and fellow senior Claire Hale (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) combined for 46 points on 20-of-21 from the field after missing the entirety of the 2021-22 season due to injury. Putnam's 11-for-11 outing set a new single-game mark for field goal percentage, besting Hailey Coleman's 10-for-10 outing in Trinity's previous highest-scoring game: 122-75 over Schreiner University, February 8, 2022.
 
On December 2, Coach Hill claimed the throne as Trinity's all-time winningest coach in a 100-42 victory at Centenary College. The 1999 graduate of Trinity passed Becky Guyer—the leader of the 2002-03 NCAA III Championship team—at 229 victories and has since elevated to a 247-47 career record, all in his 11 seasons with the Tigers. Hill has led Trinity to 20-plus victories in each of the 10 full seasons during his tenure to go with a 10-2 record in the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign.
 
Milton became the program's 19^th player to reach 1,000 career points in the 78-69 victory over Puget Sound on December 21 which was also the contest that netted her season-high in scoring at 25 points, and was the fourth of her nine 20-point outings in 2022-23.
 
On January 7, Milton claimed the all-time record for made three-pointers in a career in the 79-60 victory at Austin College. She has since become the first to make 200-plus from beyond the arc and has made 34 more than the previous record-holder: Hannah Coley '15, 190.
 
Robbins posted Trinity's first triple-double since the 2009-10 campaign with her 12 points, 12 assists and 10 steals in the 96-38 home victory over University of St. Thomas on January 21. Robbins has collected double-digit steals in both matchups with the Celts this season (Dec. 4) and has claimed four of the 10 best games in the category in program history, three of which have come during the 2022-23 campaign (Feb. 25; Texas Lutheran, SCAC Semifinal).
 
Just over a week later, 19 D3hoops.com voters placed Trinity in the No. 1 spot in its weekly national rankings, the most in the regular season for the Tigers in the poll's history (since 1999-00).
 
Updating the Record Book: Milton Charts Among All-Time Tiger Greats, Robbins Next In Line
Upon the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign, the story of Trinity Women's Basketball cannot be told without Milton. So far in her career, the senior has amassed the program record in made three-pointers (224) and has a 1.1 percent lead in three-point percentage (39.8) to go with 1,209 points (12^th all-time), 12.6 points per game (10^th all-time), 187 steals (10^th all-time), and 441 made field goals (12^th all-time).
 
Milton also holds the two best seasons in program history in made three-pointers as her mark of 69 this season trails only her 78 longballs from the 2021-22 season and is seven more than any other season in program history. Milton appears three times in the top-16 as she collected 47 makes in her rookie campaign.
 
With eligibility remaining after this season, Robbins is already scattered across the steals and assists columns of the Trinity record book. The junior point guard is the only one to have reached the century mark in assists and steals in a single season in team history, having hit both plateaus in 2022-23 (125 assists, 116 steals) and is already tied for fifth all-time with 211 steals and 11^th with 244 assists in her career.
 
Robbins is eight assists shy of the single-season record set by Danielle Hubenak '11 in the 2008-09 season (133), tied for second all-time with 125 dimes. Robbins and Hubenak are the only two players in program history to have logged more than one 100-assist season.
 
Let's Dance: Previewing the 2023 NCAA III San Antonio Regional
Trinity ranks 12^th or better in nine statistical categories in NCAA III competition this season, including the nation's leading mark with 19.5 assists per game and top-five marks in steals per game (18.6; 3^rd), turnovers forced per game (31.26; 4^th), total points (2,320; 4^th) and scoring average (85.9 per game; 5^th).
 
The Tigers' defensive presence has been led by Robbins' pickpocket skills as the junior is third in NCAA III this season in total steals (116) and fifth on a per-game basis (4.30). The Plano, Texas-native is fifth among all active careers in the NCAA with a 3.15 steals-per-game clip.
 
Trinity offers a diverse offense in terms of scoring as four players average double digits this season: Milton (13.8ppg), Shipley (11.3), Napoli (11.2) and Putnam (10.0).

• Milton boasts NCAA III's 11^th-best three-point percentage this season (42.1) as she sits 21^st in made threes (69) despite ranking outside the top-100 players in attempts (164).
• Shipley has posted 11 double-digit outings this season but has only logged three starts since the start of December. The senior has a pair of 20-point games (Feb. 4 at Colorado College; Jan. 6 at University of Dallas) and has averaged 14 points per contest over the last 10.
• Napoli has 13 double-digit outings to her record this season including back-to-back 20-point games at Texas Lutheran (Jan. 13; 23 points) and at Southwestern University (Jan. 14; 24 points). Her career-high from her rookie season at Pacific Lutheran University (25 points; Feb. 4, 2022 at Willamette University) has yet to be broken in a Trinity uniform.
• Putnam is actually the runner-up to Milton's 19 double-digit efforts with 15 of her own this season while also leading the Tigers in rebounding (5.3 per game) and field goal percentage (54.5). Putnam has three double-doubles this season with two in the last five games (Feb. 11 v. Austin College; Feb. 18 v. Southwestern).

 
The distribution for the Trinity attack is directed by Robbins as her 125 assists this season is 26^th in NCAA III to create a top-50 assist/turnover ratio (2.05) in the division. Her mark of 116 steals nearly doubles her 61 turnovers this season.
 
The Tigers are 2-1 all-time in home NCAA III postseason contests, but have not won a NCAA III home playoff matchup since 2004-05 when Greensboro College (NC) paid a visit to the Alamo City in the national tournament's second round.
 
Last season, Trinity was shipped to Abilene, Texas and the campus of Hardin-Simmons for the first two rounds, where the Tigers collected a 61-57 victory over the host Cowgirls then the regional title, 52-39, over Whitman.
 
On the Comets: Friday's nightcap with UT-Dallas will mark the third postseason meeting between the programs since 2017-18 as the previous two matchups each sided with the Comets. Since defeating UT-Dallas, 54-46, in November 2016 the Tigers have fallen in each of the previous three matchups.
 
A pair of Comets took home individual honors from the ASC this week as senior guards Jordan Maxwell and Lauren Fulenwider were named the conference's Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Year, respectively. Fulenwider joined the UT-Dallas program this year after her first three collegiate seasons were spent at Southwestern.
 
Maxwell's DPOTY came with her third career appearance on the ASC All-Defensive Team as she collected 95 rebounds, 43 steals and a pair of blocks this season. The senior was also the team's leading scorer at 8.1 points per game.
 
Fulenwider is the third Newcomer of the Year in program history as she ranked second in the ASC with 48 made three-pointers this season.
 
Junior guard Blythe Williams leads the Comets on the glass with 5.8 rebounds per game this season as she is one of six on the roster with 95 or more boards in 2022-23.
 
Now with the lede firmly buried, it's time to point out the obvious. UT-Dallas Head Coach Joe Shotland '14 makes his not-so-long-awaited return to Calgaard Gym Friday night in his first season at the helm in Richardson after he spent seven seasons on the bench with Coach Hill at Trinity.
 
During his time as a coach in San Antonio, Shotland helped the Tigers amass a 156-27 record and was named the 2017-18 Small College Assistant Coach of the Year by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC).
 
All four coaches in Friday night's affair are Trinity graduates. Alongside Hill '99 and Shotland '14 as graduates from the Trinity men's program, Tiger Assistant Coach Kelly Simmons '22 and Comet Assistant Coach Jackie Layng '19 were teammates on the 2018-19 Trinity squad, under the direction of Hill and Shotland.
 
On the Cowgirls: The favorite for the ASC title right up until its defeat at the hands of UT-Dallas, Hardin-Simmons received the lone at-large bid for Region 10 this season having only lost twice in the regular season in a one-week home-and-home with Trinity before falling in the ASC semifinals to the Comets.
 
Hardin-Simmons had five players recognized in this week's ASC season honors led by repeat first-team selections for seniors Parris Parmer and Paris Kiser. Parmer averages 10.3 points, six rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, behind Kiser's team-best 11.8 points per game and the near-double-double average of 10.8 points, 9.7 rebounds for senior center Natasha Blizzard, a second-team selection.
 
Head Coach Kendra Whitehead was named the ASC Coach of the Year for the third time this season as Hardin-Simmons carries a 23-3 overall record into the NCAA III postseason after an 18-0 run through the regular-season conference slate.
 
On the Bulldogs: Similar to UT-Dallas, Redlands emerged as the SCIAC Champion by overcoming a 20-win program in University of La Verne that had won its first 12 conference games and went 15-1 ahead of last weekend's SCIAC tournament. Although Redlands had dropped its home matchup with the Leopards, 82-75, just one week before, the Bulldogs outlasted La Verne, 70-69, for the SCIAC title.
 
Redlands has been led by a record book standout of its own in senior Hannah Jerrier, who repeated as the SCIAC Defensive Athlete of the Year as she set a new program record with 62 blocks this season and is second all-time for the Bulldogs with 310 rebounds. Jerrier has five outings with more than 15 rebounds this season, all between the months of December and January.
 
Senior Alyssa Downs leads all participants in this weekend's tournament with a 16.2 points per game average this season as she's collected on 45.4 percent of field goal attempts this season, 43.2 percent from beyond the arc, while averaging 4.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.