SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity University women's basketball team cruised to an 88-53 win over Dallas Christian College (TX) on Saturday night.
The Tigers improved to 5-2 this season with a win in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Trinity took the lead for good in the opening moments of the game, then essentially put the game out of reach with a dominating second quarter that led to a 50-19 halftime score. The Tigers scored 21 second-chance points and a total of 50 points in the paint, then also held a 20-8 edge on fastbreak points and scored 37 of their points off turnovers. Trinity shot better than 44% from the field and held Dallas Christian under 32% shooting, while also recording 16 steals among 27 turnovers forced.
Kylie Minter (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) had a slight edge for the scoring lead, finishing with 15 points to go with seven assists, hitting all three of her three-point attempts and finishing just one shy of her career-high in assists.
Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) and
Skye O'Rourke (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) both finished with 14 and two steals, combining for seven assists. O'Rourke's 14 points is a new career-high and she also added seven rebounds.
Bailey Timmons (Argyle, Texas / Argyle) and
Ivory Scott (Waco, Texas / Waco) both tied O'Rourke with seven rebounds, but
Natalie Greenwood (Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson) came off the bench to lead the team with eight boards. Greenwood and
Livy Sauvageau (Houston, Texas / Second Baptist) led the bench scoring with eight points each.
The Rundown
Both teams came out strong and traded leads early in the first quarter, but once Trinity got rolling there was no looking back. Dallas Christian cut the lead to just two points less than two minutes into the game at 8-6, but the Tigers scored 14 straight points as part of an 18-2 run that proved to be a sign of what was to come. Napoli scored eight of her 14 points during that run alone. Dallas Christian brought the lead to 26-11 by scoring the final three points of the quarter, but the damage was done.
After DCC scored first to start the second quarter, Trinity squashed any hope of a comeback as Minter splashed a three-pointer, then O'Rourke got a steal and a fastbreak layup, and then
Elaine King (Cedar Park, Texas / Cedar Park) dropped in an easy bucket to make it a 20-point lead with just over three minutes gone in the quarter. Minter added two free throws to make it 35-13 at the midway point of the quarter. Dallas Christian broke up Trinity's run of seven unanswered points with back-to-back three-pointers, but the Tigers scored 15 straight points to close the half with a huge 31-point lead. All 15 points during that run came from the bench players, with Greenwood scoring twice and Sauvageau knocking down a pair of three-pointers.
The third quarter started just like the second as Dallas Christian opened the scoring and Trinity responded with another big run. O'Rourke scored six straight Tiger points during a 7-0 run that made it a 57-21 game in less than three minutes. Minter also got in on the third-quarter scoring as well and the two players combined to score 14 consecutive Trinity points and they both left the game at the midway point of the quarter with the team leading 65-26 – its largest lead of the game at that point. Dallas Christian was only able to essentially match Trinity the rest of the way as the Tigers led 73-37 heading into the fourth.
Napoli used her time wisely to start the final quarter, scoring six unanswered points in less than 90 seconds to push the lead to 42 points. The starters came out less than two minutes later, but the super subs for Trinity were able to push the lead as high as 46 points as
Maddie Mueller (Houston, Texas / Concordia Lutheran),
Kate Pulley (Lake Oswego, Ore. / Oregon Episcopal School), and
Ivie Mehary (Dallas, Texas / Parish Episcopal School) kept up the pressure offensively – including the first career points for Pulley and Mehary. Dallas Christian fought to the end with a big run to close the game, but the game was well out of reach at that point.
Coach Speak
"The key to tonight's game was keeping first things first," began Head Coach
Cameron Hill. "It's Finals Week. So, we treated this like a group project: extra credit for making the extra pass, deductions for inadequate bench celebrations. While most of the time we really fight for that "A" we were happy with the "W" tonight. Mission accomplished. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. ONWARD!"
Up Next
Trinity will not play next weekend but will be back at home to face Illinois Wesleyan University on Friday, December 27, at 6:00 p.m. Trinity will also host East Texas Baptist University two days later, tipping off at 4:00 p.m.
