SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity University women's basketball team closed out a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend at home with a 77-61 win over Concordia University (TX) on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers improved to 7-6 overall and 3-1 in conference play, while Concordia dropped to 5-5 in its first SCAC game of the season. Trinity has now won all seven meetings against the Tornados, though this was the first meeting since 2018 and the first conference matchup between the two schools.

Natalie Greenwood (Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson) came off the bench and notched her second career double-double, tying her career-high with 15 points and setting a new career-high with 13 rebounds – nine of which were on the offensive end. Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) led the Tigers in scoring with a 20-point afternoon, hitting 7-of-14 from the field and going 5-for-10 from three-point range. Kylie Minter (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) hit 7-for-8 at the free throw line on her way to 17 points, while also dishing out a career-high nine assists. Bailey Timmons (Argyle, Texas / Argyle) nearly got a double-double of her own with 13 points and seven rebounds, tying Napoli for the team lead with three steals each.

Trinity had a 43-32 advantage in rebounding, thanks to 20 offensive rebounds that also led to a 25-14 edge in second chance points. Both teams shot under 40% in the game, though the Tiger defense held Concordia to just 6-of-29 (20.7%) shooting from beyond the arc.

The Rundown
The game started with both teams going scoreless for nearly two minutes, though Concordia scored the first five points of the game to take the early advantage. Trinity got on the board after that and a three-pointer from Napoli made it an 8-5 game. Concordia scored seven unanswered points after that, though, and pushed the lead to 15-5 with just over three minutes left in the first quarter. Napoli broke the streak with another three, then got a steal and a layup to cut the lead in half. The teams had one more basket each over the final two-plus minutes to close the period, including Greenwood's putback at the buzzer to make it a 17-12 game heading into the second.

The first two-plus minutes of the second quarter featured six straight Concordia points and the lead was back to double digits at 23-12. That's when the Tigers came to life, kicking off a 10-2 run with another three from Napoli. Greenwood had a pair of buckets during the run, including the final points of the run that made it a 25-22 game with just over four minutes left in the half. Concordia held a 29-24 lead with 1:37 to play, but Trinity scored the final five points of the quarter to tie the game 29-29 at the break.

That late run continued into the third quarter as Napoli started the scoring with a three, which was followed up by an Elaine King (Cedar Park, Texas / Cedar Park) layup that made it a 34-29 lead for the Tigers. Concordia then scored 10 of the next 11 to reclaim the lead, but Timmons hit back-to-back shots for the Tigers to tie the game again at 39-39 with 5:41 left. Minter broke the tie with a pair of free throws, then Greenwood had six straight Trinity points to keep her team in front, and Timmons dropped in a layup for a 51-45 Tiger lead just ahead of the two-minute mark. Minter and Jivana Caceres (Kyle, Texas / Hays) both had three-pointers in the final 1:18 of the third, and the Caceres buzzer-beater made it a 57-52 Trinity lead heading into the final 10 minutes.

Trinity's defense locked down the visitors in the fourth quarter as Concordia was held to just nine total points. Concordia drew within six at 62-56 with just under six minutes left in the game, but the Tornados didn't score again for more than five minutes. The Tigers scored 13 straight points during that stretch to make it a 75-56 game with less than 90 seconds left. Five different Trinity players scored during that critical stretch that put the game out of reach.

Coach Speak
"For the life of me, I can't understand the Glen Powell thing," said Head Coach Cameron Hill. "But I know he made a watered-down version of the original Twister. And today we went face to face with some tornadoes. While we appreciate the anchor technology for the truck, we would have been just fine smelling the dirt. ONWARD!"

Up Next
After seven straight games at home, the Tigers will hit the road for the next two weekends of SCAC play. The trip begins with a game at the University of Dallas (TX) on Friday, January 17, at 5:30 p.m., followed by a Saturday evening matchup at Austin College (TX) on Saturday, January 18, at 4:00 p.m.