SAN ANTONIO – No. 4/5 Trinity University Women's Basketball advanced to the third round of the 2023 NCAA III Women's Basketball Championship tournament Saturday night as it defeated No. 14/12 Hardin-Simmons University, 88-69, to conclude its host duty for the opening weekend of the national event.
 
The Tigers (28-1) collected a career performance from senior Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown) as she notched her first 30-point game just one day after reaching her 1,000^th collegiate point in the 79-62 victory over University of Texas-Dallas Friday night. Shipley's mark included 19 points out of Trinity's 45 in the second half.
 
Junior Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) eclipsed Jenna Smith '05 for the most steals in a single season in program history less than six minutes into the contest with her second of three takeaways on the evening, improving the record to 127 for the season. Robbins was one of five Tigers in double-digits in scoring as well (10) and tied senior Addie Putnam (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Xavier) for the game high of seven rebounds.
 
Sophomore Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic), senior Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) and first-year Natalie Anderson (San Jose, Calif. / Archbishop Mitty) round out the double-figure scorers with 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Anderson's 10 points marked a new career high for the Tiger rookie.
 
Trinity advanced to the third round of the NCAA III postseason for a second consecutive season with Saturday's victory—a first for the program—and the fifth time overall since the 2002-03 national championship team. Head Coach Cameron Hill has led three such seasons: 2016-17, 2021-22 and 2022-23.
 
No. 4/5 Trinity Women's Basketball will travel to No. 18/21 Tufts University in the third round of the 2023 NCAA III Women's Basketball Championship as the Jumbos defeated Skidmore College (NY), 59-50, to win their own home regional and retain hosting responsibilities for the NCAA III Women's Basketball Sectional weekend.
 
The Rundown
The weekend's finale—the third matchup of the season for the Tigers and Cowgirls—opened as the back-and-forth affair it was billed to be as the lone two-possession margin of the first quarter was marked by Hardin-Simmons's Kiki Gonzalez from the free throw line, 12-8 HSU, just after the first media break. Three of the first Trinity baskets came from the paint with Shipley collecting the first two.
 
Shipley drew the contest back to even, 12-12, with buckets on back-to-back possessions, both of which came via a Cowgirl turnover. Robbins's record-breaking takeaway was the first of the two at 4:11 in the first frame.
 
Anderson's first bucket of the contest to close the first 10 minutes marked the final lead change, 20-19 Trinity, with 31 seconds in the first and opened an 11-0 run through to a Hardin-Simmons timeout at 7:48 in the second, 29-19. The Tigers continued to flirt with a double-digit advantage throughout the second period, matching their largest lead of 10 on five occasions prior to halftime.
 
At intermission, Shipley had already achieved double figures with 11 of Trinity's 43 points while Robbins had accumulated five rebounds and all three of her steals for the contest. The Tigers shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes with a combined eight-of-10 from the trio of Robbins, Putnam and Anderson.
 
Trinity opened up to a 14-point spread, 52-38, less than four minutes into the second as it responded to the opening bucket from Natasha Blizzard with a 9-1 run powered by a Napoli three-pointer and two more finishes in the lane from Shipley.
 
A Hardin-Simmons 8-0 run immediately countered over the next two-plus minutes. Blizzard and Parris Parmer each worked into double figures during the run at 12 and 13 points, respectively. While Shipley's 21^st point—and 10^th of the quarter—marked a new 12-point advantage, 62-50, late in the third, the Tigers would have to wait to match their largest lead until the fourth.
 
A pair of Anderson free throws returned Trinity to its largest lead briefly, 68-54, ahead of the fourth-quarter media break and left the Tiger rookie one basket away from a new career high. Her next bucket marked the next 14-point spread and Napoli's fifth assist, 74-60, with 4:48 to go. With the Calgaard Gym crowd anxious to find Trinity's dagger, Milton answered the call with a long-range strike in front of the Tiger student section after the Cowgirls had worked back to a 10-point deficit over the previous two possessions. Robbins pushed the contest to a 15-point spread the next time down as she worked into double figures.
 
With time winding down, Shipley checked back in with 23 points to her credit. The next two Trinity possessions resulted in two more makes under the basket before finishing off her career-high night from beyond the arc with under a minute to play.
 
Up Next
No. 4/5 Trinity Women's Basketball will head to Medford, Massachusetts next weekend to battle Tufts for the third round of the 2023 NCAA III Women's Basketball Championship on the Jumbos' home floor.
 
The sectional pod will feature No. 1/1 Christopher Newport University (VA) [W, 65-55 v. No. 20/RV Elizabethtown College (PA)] and RV/No. 24 Wartburg College (IA) [W, 81-67 at No. 6/7 Hope College (MI)].