On Nov. 22, the Trinity women’s basketball team went to Abilene, Texas and earned their first win of the season, scoring 62-57 over the previously unbeaten Hardin-Simmons University Cowgirls.

“It’s a relief””coming off of those two losses wasn’t too fun””so we were ready to get the win,” said junior forward/center Anecia Richardson. “We see that we are capable of still being a really good team and the first weekend was just a fluke. It just showed us that we still needed to work hard to be a good team.”

Trinity held a slight 29-27 lead in the game at halftime. With 15:46 left in the game, however, the Cowgirls tied the score at 35.

The Tigers then went on a 20-10 run that gave them a 55-45 lead with six minutes remaining in the second half.

With just 15 seconds to go in the game, Hardin-Simmons had cut the lead to 59-57. Junior guard Caitlin Barrett went to the line to shoot free throws and made one of two. Senior guard Lauren Splawn made a key rebound on the missed free throw that all but sealed the win for the Tigers.

She then drew a foul and sank both of her free throws to give the Tigers the 62-57 advantage.

“I thought the biggest thing that we did is we stayed steady throughout the game,” said head coach Cameron Hill. “We kind of played with the idea that they are going to make some runs, we are going to make some runs, but as long as we stay composed and execute our stuff we are going to be in position to win the game.”

Despite shooting only 33.3 percent from the field as a team, the Tigers were able to capitalize on 23 Cowgirls turnovers and convert them into 25 points.

“We didn’t have very good passing in the first weekend, so we focused a lot on that in practice””making sure to get the ball in the paint and getting it out so the guards could get good shots, then getting it in at a good angle so that the post could also have good shots,” Richardson said.

Richardson led the team in scoring with 22 points. She was 7-11 from the field and went 8-8 from the free throw line.Splawn finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and four steals, including the final rebound and points of the game that sealed the victory for the Tigers.Barrett finished with 15 points, going 5-10 from the field.

“We have got five players in every possession that are capable of scoring the ball,” Hill said. “I think we did a good job of reading the defense and moving the ball against their rotations, and players were ready to make plays when they caught the ball.”

On Dec. 1, the team traveled to Austin and defeated the Concordia University Tornados 81-59.

The Tigers never trailed in the game and led 41-29 at the half. Concordia got into foul trouble early in the second half and sent many Tigers to the line to shoot free throws throughout the half. The Tigers shot 84 percent from the line in the game, which gave them many easy points.

Richardson led all scorers in the game with 25 points, seven rebounds and was  7-7 from the field. Junior guard Elizabeth Balido was close behind with 15 points, shooting 60 percent from the field. She also recorded seven rebounds and two steals, which led to four points from layups.

Today, on Dec. 5, the Tigers take on Chapman University in Orange, California, and tomorrow, Dec. 6 they play the University of the Redlands in Redlands, California.