GEORGETOWN, Texas — For almost 39 minutes, the Southwestern Pirates women's basketball team and Texas Lutheran Bulldogs were locked in a back-and-forth contest with no clear separation between the two.
The conference rivals tied the score on three separate occasions with seven lead changes, including five in the fourth quarter. In the end, it was a clutch 3-pointer from Texas Lutheran's Jayla Santa Maria on a broken play that provided the Bulldogs' final push for a 60-52 victory over Southwestern.
Southwestern turned the ball over three times in the fourth quarter, compounding a frigid 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) shooting performance over the final 10 minutes. Still, it was a one-point game as the clock ticked down to the last minute. On a late Texas Lutheran possession, Southwestern closed out each designed action while Santa Maria held the ball on the wing going through each read.
With the clock running down, she hoisted a flatfooted 3-pointer in her defender's face, making the game a two-possession contest with 1:06 remaining. Southwestern tried to close the gap from long-distance but missed five consecutive 3-pointers, while Texas Lutheran closed the game out with a layup and a pair of free throws.
Lauren Fulenwider and Noel Pratts led the Pirates in scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Pratts led Southwestern on some of their most efficient possessions, scoring her 11 points on 5-for-14 shooting with seven rebounds and dishing out seven assists, mostly for open 3-pointers and layups. Fulenwider struggled to finder her range, shooting 3-for-11 from distance.
Texas Lutheran established its inside game early, going to Sydney Shaw and Abby Hroch inside for a combined 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting in the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a 16-15 lead. Southwestern got a spark off the bench from Kaitlyn Atkinson in the second quarter, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and scoring eight points in three minutes to put the Pirates up 31-29 at the break.
After both teams struggled to gain traction offensively in the third, the inside-out combination of Hroch and Molina found their rhythm in the fourth, combining 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting. On the other end, Texas Lutheran started hard hedging on ball screens, using their size to disrupt passing lanes, creating deflections that didn't always lead to turnovers but did force the Pirates to use up the precious shot clock.
The Pirates took a late 52-51 lead on 3-pointer by Emily Edwards off an assist from Pratts with 4:39 remaining, but Southwestern went scoreless over the rest of the game.
Hroch led Texas Lutheran with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Molina added 14 points, four assists, and three steals. With the win, Texas Lutheran improves to 3-2 and drops Southwestern to 1-6. Both teams will play each other again tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
