Bulldogs Rake In All-Conference Honors; Patterson Named Coach of the Year
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA -- Texas Lutheran's women's basketball team collected an impressive haul of All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) honors in the league's announcement on Saturday. In addition to head coach Troy Patterson, five players: Jayla Santa Maria, Morgan Rodriguez, Tanyse Moehrig, Kailee Mulkey, and Jenesis Navarro, received recognition from the league's head coaches.
In his first season as head coach, Troy Patterson was named SCAC Coach of the Year. After being picked to finish fifth in the league's preseason poll, Patterson guided the Bulldogs to a second place finish and a program-best 13 conference wins - surpassing the previous record of 12 which was met in 2013-14, 2016-17, and 2018-19. The 13 wins ties Patterson for fourth most SCAC wins by any first-year coach in SCAC Women's Basketball history. Overall, TLU women's basketball finished the 2021-22 season with a 16-9 record.
Senior Jayla Santa Maria (Edinburg/Edinburg) was the Bulldogs lone representative on the All-SCAC Second Team. The Edinburg native concluded the regular season tied as the team's leading scorer with 9.6 points per game and second in assists (1.5 AST/G) and field-goal percentage (.407 and fourth in steals (0.8 STL/G). Her 40.7% field-goal percentage makes for tenth in the SCAC and her free throw percentage (.727) placed her seventh in the conference. This marks Santa Maria's second All-Conference honor after being named All-SCAC Honorable Mention last season.
Senior Morgan Rodriguez (New Braunfels/Canyon) received her third career All-Conference honor as she was named to the All-SCAC Third Team. The New Braunfels native finished the regular season as the Bulldogs leader in field-goal percentage (.500) and shared first place scoring honors with Santa Maria with 9.6 points per game. Her 50% field-goal percentage placed her fourth in the SCAC.
A trio of Bulldogs were named All-SCAC Honorable Mention with sophomore Tanyse Moehrig (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley), freshman Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels), and senior Jenesis Navarro (San Antonio/Lee) receiving the distinction.
Moehrig, who was a Second Team All-SCAC honoree in volleyball in the fall, finished as the Bulldogs leader in rebounds (6.9 REBS/G) and blocks (0.8 BLKS/G) - finishing in the top 15 in the conference in both categories. The Spring Branch native is averaging 7.4 points per game while shooting 44-percent from the floor.
Mulkey, who was also named to the conference's All-Freshman team, made an immediate impact as a freshman on both ends - finishing third on the squad in scoring (9.1 PPG) and rebounding (3.7 REBS/G) while leading the Bulldogs in steals at 1.7 per game. Mulkey's 1.7 steals per game made for sixth in the SCAC. She would also finish 11th in the SCAC in three-point percentage (.296).
Navarro was honored for the first time in her career. The senior from San Antonio finished the regular season as the team's assists leader (4.0 AST/G) and top three-point shooter at 31-percent, placing her second in the conference in assists and assists-to-turnover ratio (2.1) and eighth in three-point percentage. Navarro averaged 7.0 points per game in the regular season.
All All-SCAC honorees can be found here.
Fans can receive updates by following @tlubulldogs & @tluwbb on Twitter and catch up with the latest news and notes on the team by clicking LIKE on the TLU Athletics Facebook page at @tlubulldogs or by visiting the team's Instagram page at @tluwbb and as always follow TLU athletics on all of our social channels for updates on all things TLU Athletics.