MARSHALL, Texas – The Trinity University women's basketball team improved to 4-6 this season with a 74-65 win over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (TX) ETBU Christmas Classic on Monday afternoon, marking the second straight Tiger win over the Crusaders.

Trinity trailed by as many as 13 points in the game but locked in after a strong start by UMHB. Facing that double-digit deficit midway through the second quarter, the Tigers came to life with a strong run that made it a three-point game at the break. That momentum continued in the second half and Trinity took the lead for good late in the third quarter. Overall, the Tigers forced 21 turnovers and committed just 12 themselves, leading to a 14-9 edge in points off turnovers and a 10-5 margin in fastbreak points. Trinity also dominated in the paint with a 26-12 scoring margin.

Livy Sauvageau (Houston, Texas / Second Baptist) led three Tigers in double figures with 19 points on 5-of-10 three-point shooting. Ivory Scott (Waco, Texas / Waco) added 11 points and a team-leading eight rebounds, while Kylie Minter (League City, Texas / Clear Springs) finished with 10 points and a Tiger-best three assists. Emma Winans (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) chipped in with nine points off the bench and Jailyn Martin (Ashburn, Va. / Virginia Academy) had five points to go with a game-high four steals. Natalie Greenwood (Dallas, Texas / Byron Nelson) pulled down six rebounds to go with four points scored.

The Rundown
The game was fairly even over the first several minutes of the opening quarter and Sauvageau hit three of her five three-pointers in the first five-plus minutes to help Trinity keep pace. Her third three-point bucket gave the Tigers a 13-12 margin with 4:34 remaining in the quarter, but the team went cold and managed just two more points the rest of the way. UMHB finished by scoring nine of the final 11 points and took a 21-15 lead into the second period.

Scoring was at a premium to start the quarter and Greenwood hit Trinity's first shot after more than three minutes to make it a 24-17 deficit. The Cru scored the next six points, though, and the Tigers were down 30-17 with 4:44 left in the half. This time it was Trinity that owned the end of the quarter, though, going off on a 13-3 run that turned the game around. Sauvageau and Scott started the blitz, then Winans made it six straight points ahead of the three-minute mark. UMHB got its only bucket of the run after that, but Trinity finished with seven more unanswered to make it a 33-30 game heading into halftime.

Trinity kept pace with Mary Hardin-Baylor to start the third quarter but couldn't get the lead until the final three minutes. The Tigers did tie the game 42-42 with five minutes left when Minter followed a Sauvageau three-pointer with a steal and a fastbreak layup, but UMHB came back with a go-ahead three-pointer. Less than a minute later, Skye O'Rourke (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) brought Trinity within one, then Scott hit a shot with 2:52 left to put the Tigers up 46-45. The quarter ended with Trinity scoring 10 of the final 12 points and pulling in front 52-47 heading into the fourth.

The Cru opened the scoring in the final period but Sauvageau started a 6-0 spurt with her fourth three-pointer of the game that ended with a pair of free throws from Scott that made it 58-49 less than 90 seconds into the quarter. Sauvageau hit her last bucket from distance to answer one from UMHB and keep the lead at nine points, then Allison Even (Tucson, Ariz. / Salpointe Catholic) had the next four Trinity points – the last two of which made it a 65-54 lead with under four minutes to play. The lead was double digits most of the way after that with a last-second three-pointer from UMHB bringing it back to nine in the end.

Coach Speak
"Every time we come to Marshall, I feel like Kevin Bacon is somewhere in town fighting the town council to get the law against public dancing abolished," said Head Coach Cameron Hill. "Meanwhile, there was an actual break dance fight in Ornelas Arena and The TOGETHERS moonwalked away victorious. Run it back tomorrow at 5. ONWARD!"

Up Next
Trinity will finish the road trip against tournament host and 20th-ranked East Texas Baptist tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.