Abilene, Texas – The Trinity University women's basketball team opened another Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend on the road with a 67-60 loss at McMurry University (TX) on Friday evening.

The Tigers fell to 9-7 overall and 5-2 in SCAC play with the loss, while McMurry completes the regular season sweep in the series, improving to 11-3 this year and 4-1 in conference. The overall series between the two schools is now tied after 16 meetings, and Trinity is now 1-5 on the road against the War Hawks. Trinity shot nearly 44% overall from the field but hit just 3-of-15 (20%) from three-point range. The Tiger defense held McMurry to just under 36% shooting, though the War Hawks hit 10-of-31 from three-point range.

Kylie Minter (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) led Trinity with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Josie Napoli (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic) was the only other Tiger to reach double figures with 12 points. Both players tied for the team lead with two steals each and Napoli also had a team-best three assists. Bailey Timmons (Argyle, Texas / Argyle) added nine points and a team-leading eight rebounds and also recorded a pair of steals. Natalie Greenwood (Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson) came off the bench to pull in seven rebounds to go with five points in 16 minutes. Livy Sauvageau (Houston, Texas / Second Baptist) led the Trinity reserves with seven points.

The Rundown
Trinity got off to a quick start with the first two baskets of the opening quarter and held McMurry scoreless for nearly three minutes. The home team knotted things up 6-6 with a pair of three-pointers and scored 15 of its 19 points in the first quarter by way of three-point shooting. The War Hawks took their first lead at the midway point of the quarter and led 12-10 before Minter tied things up with 3:39 to play. McMurry scored seven straight points after that and led 19-13 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, it took more than three minutes for either team to score, and then Minter and Napoli had baskets to make it a 21-17 game. McMurry hit back-to-back shots to take that lead to nine, but Timmons and Minter answered with five Tiger points to bring it back to a 26-22 lead with less than four minutes left in the half. After McMurry scored the next four points to double the lead, Sauvageau knocked down a pair of free throws in the final minute to make it a 30-24 game at the break.

Both teams got hot in the third quarter and scored 19 points each – setting or matching the top scoring quarter for each squad. Minter and Napoli once again scored the first two buckets for the Tigers, but McMurry scored eight of the next 10 points and pushed the lead to double figures at 40-30 with 5:33 left in the period. Four different players combined for an 8-2 Trinity run of its own, capped by Jivana Caceres (Kyle, Texas / Hays) cutting the deficit back to four at 42-38 with just over two minutes remaining. Just over a minute later, Sauvageau buried a three-pointer to cut it to a 45-43 margin. McMurry hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds, then forced a turnover and made a last-second bucket to go back in front by six, 49-43.

McMurry extended its scoring streak into the fourth quarter and eventually had the lead at 15 points, 58-43, with a 13-0 run. Trinity finally ended its drought with two free throws just before the five-minute mark and made its first field goal in more than six minutes of game time shortly after. McMurry's largest lead of the game was 16 points and that was the difference when Trinity made a run with 4:22 left. The Tigers scored 11 of 13 points over a stretch of less than two minutes to cut the lead in half at 65-58, capped by a three-pointer from Timmons with 2:35 to play. McMurry went 2-for-4 at the foul line on its next two possessions, but Trinity missed three straight shots after that three-pointer and wasn't able to complete the comeback bid.

Coach Speak
"I've honestly never been so frustrated with also feeling so proud at the same time," said Head Coach Cameron Hill. "Best way to describe it would be when Roger Dorn punches Ricky Vaughn in the face and then immediately hugs him in Major League. This is where we are. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. ONWARD."

Up Next
Trinity finishes off its SCAC weekend on the road with a Sunday afternoon tilt against Concordia University (TX) at 12:00 p.m.