#RV TLU Women's Basketball Wins SCAC Tournament Title!

IRVING, Texas -- The #RV TLU women's basketball team served up one final win in their final matchup with rival Trinity as conference foes, taking down the third-seeded Tigers 73-63 in Sunday's SCAC Tournament championship game at the Maher Center in Irving. The total team effort saw Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) put forth a heroic 22-point, 11 rebound double-double, her third double-double of the weekend along with a double-double from Sarahi Jones (Los Fresnos/Los Fresnos) and big time shots made by Lauren Sansano (San Antonio/FEAST) and Angelina Sotelo (San Marcos/San Marcos) to help fuel the Bulldogs to their third SCAC tourney title, last won six years ago in 2019. At 23-4 overall, Troy Patterson's Bulldogs have tied the program record for wins set in 2014, a squad assistant coach Krystal Schneider was also on staff for.

Texas Lutheran extended their streak against the Tigers to three straight, the longest since either program became NCAA institutions.

Texas Lutheran led for all but 41 seconds on Sunday.

TLU started the game on a 9-3 run before Trinity fired back with a 10-3 run of their own to briefly take the lead in the first quarter. It was nip and tuck throughout the early parts of the first half before TLU fired off a 10-2 run to take an eight point lead early in the second quarter. The Bulldogs led by as many as nine points in the first half and led 39-30 at the halftime break. Mulkey, who passed Valerie Walker and Taylor Dydalewicz on the all-time scoring list with her scoring efforts on Sunday to move into sixth all-time, led the Bulldogs in the first half as the senior finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. TLU shot 39.5 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes compared to Trinity's 38.5 percent but the Bulldogs were ahead on the boards 26-19 by the break.

TLU stayed in the driver's seat from there, limiting a high-powered Trinity offense to single digits in the third quarter and kept the Tigers in at least a ten point hole down the stretch to lock up the title. TLU finished shooting 40.3 percent overall to Trinity's 36.9 percent, while the Bulldogs stayed ahead on the boards 54-34.

Mulkey's game-high 22 points paved the way for the Bulldogs, who had Angelina Sotelo add 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Sarahi Jones tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds while Lauren Sansano finished with seven points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. Callista Perez (San Antonio/Stevens) led the Bulldogs bench with seven points and six rebounds.

Kailee Mulkey was selected the SCAC Tournament's Most Valuable Player, averaging 19 points and 10.3 rebounds and 41.3 minutes per game on the weekend. Mulkey was joined by Lauren Sansano and Zaria Solis on the SCAC All-Tournament Team.

#RV TLU now awaits the NCAA Selection Show, set for 1:30 PM CST on March 3, to determine the Bulldogs' postseason path. The Bulldogs return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

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