Texas Lutheran Falls to St. Thomas, 61-54

HOUSTON, Texas -- Texas Lutheran attempted to mount a fourth quarter comeback that fell short as the Bulldogs fell to the Celts of St. Thomas, 61-54, on Friday at the Jerabeck Activity and Athletics Center in Houston, Texas.

Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) led Texas Lutheran in scoring with 16 points in addition to six rebounds and four steals. Davi'Yanna Jones (San Antonio/Stevens) continued her coming out party that has stretched over the last three games, recording her first collegiate double-double with a career-high 13 points and a career and team-high 11 rebounds. Jones would also contribute a team-high five steals, also a career-high.

Texas Lutheran struggled throughout the first three quarters with the Bulldogs only mounting eight points in the opening period. Jones led the Bulldogs with eight points as TLU only trailed 26-22 at halftime despite the early struggles that saw the Bulldogs turn the ball over 12 times and shoot 9-for-29 (31%) and 1-for-11 (9.1%) from deep.

Texas Lutheran struggled as St. Thomas went on a 17-10 run over the course of the third quarter. The Bulldogs would connect on five of 17 shot attempts in the quarter and trail 43-32 entering the final period.

Mulkey and Hannah Gallegos (San Antonio/Harlan) controlled the fourth quarter combining for 16 points on 67-percent shooting (6-9 FG). A sequence of threes from Mulkey and Gallegos and a free throw from Juliana Tapia (San Antonio/O'Connor) cut the Celts lead down to 53-51 with 36 seconds remaining. That's as close as Texas Lutheran would come to the Celts as the Celts buried free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach. The Celts took advantage at the line throughout the night - sinking 13-of-15 attempts (86.7%) while Texas Lutheran, who leads the SCAC in free throw percentage, was 5-of-11 (45%) from the charity stripe.

Up next, Texas Lutheran concludes their road trip and will look to bounce back against Centenary as they continue to jockey for seeding in the SCAC Tournament in February. The SCAC foes will tip at 12 PM on Sunday, Jan. 29. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

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