Austin College Women Suffer First Defeat

SHERMAN, Texas - The No. 18-ranked Austin College women's basketball team took its first loss of the season on Saturday, falling 86-65 to No. 21-ranked Trinity University. The 'Roos are now 12-1 overall and 5-1 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play.

Trinity forced the 'Roos into 21 turnovers on the night while only giving it away five times themselves, and the Tigers knocked down 10 threes in the game. After trailing 12-2 early the 'Roos fought back to cut it to a 14-13 game with 3:32 left in the opening quarter but Trinity would head into the second quarter with a 21-16 advantage. The 'Roos cut it to 24-23 on a bucket by Sarah Gwin midway through the second but Trinity would head into the halftime leading 36-30.

Austin College opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 37-36 lead with 6:12 on the clock, but a 16-1 run for the Tigers put Trinity on top 52-38 and the 'Roos would find themselves trailing 56-43 entering the fourth quarter. The 'Roos scored 22 fourth quarter points but each time Austin College got a basket, the Tigers countered, ultimately ending the hopes for a comeback bid. Trinity shot 64.7% from the field in the fourth, scoring 30 points to put the game away.

Kacie West led all scorers with 21 points, adding six rebounds and three assists, and Gwin came off the bench to score 12. Ally Longaker chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds, and Natalie McCoy scored nine in the loss. Austin College, which entered the game as the top three-point shooting team in the SCAC, hit just 6-of-26 triples and their 21 turnovers were more than eight over their season average.

Trinity got 17 points from Ashlyn Milton and 16 from Emily Daniel, and Abby Holland scored 14 points to go with 12 rebounds and seven assists. 

Austin College will be looking to bounce back next weekend as they head out on the road to take on Southwestern University on Friday and Texas Lutheran on Saturday.