Texas Lutheran Falls to Trinity, 69-56

SEGUIN, TX -- Texas Lutheran suffered its first conference loss of the season on Saturday, falling 69-56 to Trinity in Memorial Gymnasium.

Freshman Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) led TLU (10-6, 7-1 SCAC) in scoring with 16 points, five rebounds, and a team-high three steals. Senior Jayla Santa Maria (Edinburg/Edinburg) joined Mulkey in double-figures with 13 points.

The game started out with momentum solely with the Trinity Tigers (16-2, 9-0 SCAC) as they began the game on an 11-3 run. A 7-0 run by the Bulldogs, capped off by a Hannah Gallegos (San Antonio/Harlan) three, helped Texas Lutheran shrink the Tigers advantage to 16-15 to end the first quarter.

A mid-range jumper from Jayla Santa Maria gave Texas Lutheran the lead 26 seconds in the second quarter. Texas Lutheran would struggle from this point forward as the turnover struggles from the first period carried over into the second as the Bulldogs would turn the ball over 15 times in the first half as the Tigers length amidst their full court trap gave the Bulldogs issues throughout the night. Trinity would regain and expand their lead - holding the Bulldogs to 10 points in the period. The Tigers would close out the half on a 10-2 run, making the halftime score 38-25.

The Tigers would open the second half with a 7-0 run, but the Bulldogs would respond with their cleanest quarter of the night. The Bulldogs would score 21 points in the third quarter - only turning the ball over three times in the period while shaving six points off the Tigers lead. Kailee Mulkey guided the Bulldogs through the quarter - scoring 11 of her 16 points in the quarter.

Texas Lutheran would carry momentum into the final stanza, but the Bulldogs would never be able to fully overtake the Tigers. The Bulldogs were able to get the margin as low as two points with 7:07 remaining before a cold spell would see the Bulldogs score only one point for the next six minutes with the Tigers going on an 11-0 run over that period. The Bulldogs would shoot 27% in the fourth quarter as the Tigers pulled away.

Up next, The Bulldogs begin a road trip that will see them play five games in 11 nights on Tuesday, February 1st, as they head to Sherman, Texas, to face Austin College in a make-up contest for the previously canceled January 15th contest. Tip-off is currently set for 8 PM. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.