Trinity’s women’s basketball team earned its first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship since 2005 with a 77-65 victory over Southwestern University on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers improved to 23-4 on the season, while the Pirates fell to 19-8. Trinity also won for the 17th consecutive time, tying the school record set in 2003-04 (over a period of two seasons). Four of Southwestern’s losses this season came at the hands of Trinity, and ironically, all four came by a 12-point margin. The Pirates reached the tournament final for the first time in school history, while Trinity last made the championship game in 2009.
Southwestern struggled to shoot the ball in the first half, hitting just 10-35 (28.6%) from the field. The Pirates fell behind 36-23 by the break, following a 16-2 run by Trinity that made it 26-14 with 8:28 to go.
Hannah Coley scored seven of her 14 first-half points in the final minutes of the period, keying Trinity’s double-digit lead. Coley finished the game with 20 points to lead all players, also picking up four steals for the second straight game.
Trinity pushed the lead as high as 17 points in the second half, as Southwestern continued to struggle from the field. Late in the second, the Pirates came to life in a huge way, dropping a 14-point lead all the way down to three with 2:27 to play. Southwestern used a 14-3 run to knock it down to a one-possession game, but the Tigers got a three-point play on the next possession, and went on to score nine unanswered to seal the victory.
Murphy Burns hit 10-10 from the line on her way to a 19-point game, adding 10 rebounds for an impressive double-double. Burns hit six of those foul shots in the final 1:17 of the contest.
Jordan Owens and Annie Bourne also had solid double-doubles for Southwestern, collecting 13 rebounds each. Owens finished with 14 points, while Bourne had 13 for the Pirates. Chelsea Leeder scored 10 points to go with four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Southwestern’s Bourne and Leeder, as well as Trinity’s Coley and Burns were all named to the All-Tournament Team. Kylie Yoshimura from the University of Dallas was also named to the team.
The Tournament Most Valuable Player was Libby Kruse from Trinity University. Kruse finished with nine points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists – just missing a triple-double in the tournament final. She also had eight points and nine rebounds in yesterday’s win over Dallas, highlighted by a crucial rebound and two free throws to seal the win in the final seconds.