On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the Trinity women’s basketball team defeated Southwestern University 81-55 at home to get their fourth straight win. After this win, the team’s record rises to 7-1 overall and 1-0 in the SCAC, and Southwestern’s drops to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the SCAC.
The win over Southwestern follows Trinity’s 72-60 win over DII Angelo State University on Monday, Nov. 25. After that, the Tigers played in Thanksgiving Classic tournament at home, where they beat DII Southern Arkansas 82-73 on Saturday, Nov. 30. The next day, on Sunday, Dec. 1, they went undefeated in the tournament when they beat University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 91-75.
During the game versus Southwestern, Southwestern scored the first points of the game and led Trinity 2-1 until the 17:17 mark when Trinity pulled ahead 4-2. After that, the Pirates tied things up again at 4-4 and 14-14, but never recaptured the lead. By the halftime mark, the Tigers were up 40-26, and from there they coasted through the second half to win 81-55.
“The Southwestern game was really fun since it is such a big rivalry game, and it was really fun to control it as easily as we did. It really wasn’t any individual performance, either, which makes it even more special for our team. We moved the ball well, we played very good defense, we were active, we rebounded well, and those are all things you need to do to win games like that,” said head coach Cameron Hill.
As the season continues, the Tigers are very happy with their performances and chemistry so far and feel as though they can go far this year.
“The season has been amazing so far. From day one, everyone has come in and put 100 percent. We all know what’s at stake and what we’re capable of,” said junior Taylor Hollins.
Other teammates echo Hollins’ sentiments on the team atmosphere so far.
“We work great together and work hard all the time. Our goals are to win conference again and get further in the national playoff tournament this season,” said first-year Randi Reinhardt.
The team feels that some of their strengths this year that will help them achieve their goals are depth and team chemistry.
“We’ve got really good instincts as a team and we do a great job blending our talents. We’ve got a lot of individually talented players and they work together great as a unit,” Hill said.
Next up, the Tigers travel to St. Louis, Mo. to play in the McWilliams Classic hosted by Washington University in St. Louis. On Friday, Dec. 6, the Tigers face off against University of California-Santa Cruz while Washington University plays Augustana College. Then, on Dec. 7, the winners of the games face off and the losers of the games face off.
“Our team has done a great job taking every game one at a time and keeping a serious mindset about our preparation, which to me is the biggest thing that helps us night in and night out is that we are a really good practice team and we are always prepared for our opponents,” Hill said.
The Tigers then have a break and do not play again until Dec. 29 and 30, when they host the Trinity Christmas Classic where they will play Illinois Wesleyan University and George Fox University.
