Bulldogs Use Balanced Attack to Defeat Southwestern

SEGUIN, TX -- Jayla Santa Maria (Edinburg/Edinburg) scored 16 points to lead Texas Lutheran to a 75-60 victory over Southwestern on Friday night.

Texas Lutheran improved to 10-5 overall and 7-0 in SCAC play heading into Saturday's matchup with the undefeated Trinity Tigers. Southwestern fell to 8-9 (4-5 SCAC).

Santa Maria led the Bulldogs with 16 points on 6-10 shooting and Tanyse Moehrig (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley) added 10 points, shooting 6-6 from the free throw line and adding a team-high 10 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks for her third double-double of the season. Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) was 4-7 from the field to add 10 points. Morgan Rodriguez (New Braunfels/Canyon) joined them in double-figures finishing with 10 points as well - shooting 4-4 from the free throw line. Jenesis Navarro (San Antonio/Lee) once again led the Bulldogs in assists - matching Moehrig with four assists to go along with nine points.

The Bulldogs opened the game with a 16-3 run and would carry a 21-5 lead into the initial break. After an opening run to start the second quarter, the Bulldogs would be outscored 19-16 in the second quarter as they would carry a 37-24 lead into halftime.

The Bulldogs secured their lead for good in the third quarter - outscoring the Pirates 21-11 in the period to effectively put the game out of reach. This made for yet another wire-to-wire victory for the Bulldogs with the Pirates never getting closer than 11 points from the 3:47 mark in the first quarter through the rest of the game.

TLU committed just nine turnovers while forcing 13 - which they turned into 13 points. The Bulldogs outscored Southwestern 28-18 in the paint and 13-4 in second chance opportunities.

Up next, Texas Lutheran stays home to take on rival Trinity University Saturday, January 29th at Memorial Gymnasium with first place in the SCAC on the line. Tip-off is currently set for 6PM and fans are expected to wear black for the "Black Out" theme for the highly-touted rivalry game. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.