Texas Lutheran Athletics returns to action with basketball doubleheaders Fri.-Sat. at Centenary

SHREVEPORT, La. -- The Texas Lutheran Women's and Men's Basketball teams will play the first collegiate contests for the university since March 14, 2020, when the sports seasons shut down at TLU and across the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The Bulldog basketball teams will face Centenary College (La.) on Friday and Saturday in a pair of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference basketball doubleheaders at Centenary's Gold Dome. 

 

The women start the year Friday with a 5 p.m. contest. The men's game follows at 8 p.m. On Saturday, game times are 1 and 4 p.m., with the women again playing first.

 

All four games will have webcasts and live stats, provided by Centenary. Links to the webcasts and live stats can be found on the main page of tlubulldogs.com and each basketball team's main page and schedule page. All webcasts within the SCAC this year are free of charge. Additionally, no spectators are allowed at SCAC contests this weekend.

 

TLU Athletics announced Monday that TLU would not permit spectators at any of the university's home sporting events this spring until pandemic conditions improved enough to allow for safe participation by spectators. All of the SCAC universities and colleges have adopted this "no spectator" approach for now.

 

"It's just an unusual time," said Mel Dixon, TLU's head coach for women's basketball. "We have practiced for four months, and we still haven't played a game. We haven't known from week to week if we were going to play this season or not. We for sure aren't used to that. But we go with the flow. You have to."

 

Dixon, TLU's all-time wins leader in women's basketball, starts his ninth season with the Bulldogs. He again will have the services of senior point guard Tara Molina. The San Antonio native opted to use her fifth year of eligibility, granted to her after an injury cost her most of the 2017-18 season.

 

"We have had to stay focused and stay healthy," said Molina, the 2019 SCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player. "We know we are not the only team in this situation. It's really been about putting your team first more than yourself. Doing the little things, like wearing your mask. Coming to practice every day with the mindset that every moment you have in this sport is precious."

 

"We only have until the end of February, and then the regular season is over. We have practiced very hard to get ready for a handful of games. For some of us, with this being our last moments of basketball, we aren't taking this special time for granted."

 

TLU Men's Basketball, the SCAC Tournament runner-up a season ago, begins the year picked to finish second in the SCAC (behind the University of St. Thomas). The Bulldogs return All-Conference players Sebastian Andrade and Caleb Lister and four of their five starters from a year ago.

 

"Well I'm really excited because we had a terrific fall," said Mike Wacker, TLU's fifth-year head coach. "The senior leadership by Caleb, Sebastian and Jamir (Mason) has been outstanding. All the new guys have fit in really well. I think we have a 15-man unit that pulls for each other. They have worked really hard on the fundamentals."

 

"We had a couple of setbacks from some contact tracing where we lost a few weeks of practice, but overall it feels like we have been practicing for a really long time. January 4th we came back after about a month off. I think our guys came back really strong, focused, and committed to be ready to compete. And now this week all the preparation has been for Centenary. It's really exciting to get on the road and bond together with the team this early in the season."

 

A team captain, Lister expressed excitement for embarking on what will go down as one of the strangest years in TLU Basketball history.

 

"Our whole motto has been 'control what we can control'," said Lister. "Some things are out of our hands. We don't get to control if there are fans or how many people get to play or whatever like that. At the same time, we can show up every day and work hard, and we can do what we have to do so that if there was going to be a season we were going to be ready for it."

 

The 2021 SCAC Basketball seasons begin Friday with women's and men's teams each scheduled to play 12-game, conference-only schedules in the regular season. The top eight teams, based on regular-season results, will qualify for the 2021 SCAC Tournaments. The tournaments are scheduled for March 4-6 in Sherman, Texas (women's tournament) and in Georgetown, Texas (men's tournament).