WBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity loses 65-52 in a game that saw two starters foul out, two others play with four, and the home team shoots 31 free throws to the visitors' 10.  Think that says it all.

[gordonmann]

Yeah, I was at the game and felt really bad for Trinity.

The first three quarters were really close with buzzer beaters at the end of the first and second quarters and lots of lead changes. Then Trinity missed an open layup in the fourth quarter, and then another, and then another, then two free throws, and you could see the game get away from them.  They started chasing points from three and those shots also missed by increasing margins. At one point one of the players yelled at her teammates, "What are we doing?!" They didn't score until there was less than two minutes left in the quarter, at which point it was already over.

That's a really good team that deserved a better fate. Having your season -- and some case careers -- end on someone else's court as things fall part and you can't stop it was excruciating.

You won't be surprised, but they handled it with absolute class. Coach Hill thanked everyone at the officials table after the handshake line. Ashlyn and Maggie gave great answers in the postgame press conference that I'm sure they did not want to do. The poise they showed in the face of extreme disappointment is a testament to them as individuals and their program.

I don't want to take anything away from Tufts who's a great team. As Ashlyn said in the postgame press conference, all but one team are going to have their season end like this. But this felt like a cruel way for their season to end.

[Ron Boerger]

Thanks for the perspective, Gordon.  Trinity loses Shipley, Milton, Hale, Putnam, and Nelson so this really was their best chance to hang a second championship banner in a long time.  TLU and Colorado are young and talented, Schreiner is coming along so they'll have a challenge just getting to the playoffs next season.  Coach Hill (always a class act in my experience) will have to bring the younger players along and convince them they can be the next part of the tradition he's established there.  And if he can find another transfer like he seems to do (Napoli was one of this year's transfers from PLU, Shipley came a couple years ago from Amherst) then all the better.  Robbins, their defensive anchor and spark plug, who unfortunately couldn't stay on the floor last night, has at least one more season and that will be a huge help early in the season while the returnees figure out their new, enlarged roles.  And they really missed the inside presence they lost when Hailey Coleman graduated last year.

[Ralph Turner]

https://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/women/2022-23/boxscores/20230310_tfu7.xml?view=plays

TU shot 8 FT's in the first 3 quarters; Tufts, 16.

The first three quarters were really close with buzzer beaters at the end of the first and second quarters and lots of lead changes. Then Trinity missed an open layup in the fourth quarter, and then another, and then another, then two free throws, and you could see the game get away from them.  ...

...and the home crowd begins to the detect a momentum shift and the home court advantage comes into play.

That's a really good team that deserved a better fate. Having your season -- and some case careers -- end on someone else's court as things fall part and you can't stop it was excruciating.

You won't be surprised, but they handled it with absolute class. Coach Hill thanked everyone at the officials table after the handshake line. Ashlyn and Maggie gave great answers in the postgame press conference that I'm sure they did not want to do. The poise they showed in the face of extreme disappointment is a testament to them as individuals and their program.

... especially when the NCAA announced on Hoopsville with great excitement the seedings of the Top 16 teams.

Trinity was 2 slots ahead of Tufts. I am sure that the players were thinking, "Wow! #7! Let's take care of business."

Trinity went undefeated for the rest of the season. They beat 2 regionally ranked teams in the 1st weekend versus only 1 for Tufts. There were 4 teams at the next level who had to fly. What a chance for Trinity to host.

Gordon, was an injustice done to Trinity?

[gordonmann]

I had hoped this regional would be played at Trinity and agree that this was the year to do it with every team flying.

The Tigers probably weren't thinking about it during the game and Coach Hill said they just accept their fate as road teams in the second weekend. But, as the Tigers season was slipping away and the home crowd was riding them, it was hard not think about whether the result would've been different in Texas.

[D3Navy]

Trinity went inside early and had some success with finishing, particularly by Maggie Robbins.  I'd guess they were hoping a side effect would be hanging some fouls on Maggie Russell: she didn't bite.  Once the inside shots stopped falling for Trinity, Russell began to dominate.

I'd add that Tufts handled Trinity's full-court press very effectively thus depriving Trinity of a potent weapon.

I do believe the home court would have been significant had the game been played in San Antonio.  Not suggesting bias, but the regular refs in San Antonio are used to the scrappy, intrusive defense played by Trinity and may not have called some of the fouls like last night.

A terrific season played by a classy team.  They represent Trinity extremely well.  On to next year!

[Ron Boerger]

I am bitter enough to observe that tonight, when Tufts was the team having four players with four fouls and one who fouled out, that they too lost by double digits (16).

The CNU press was much more effective than was Trinity's, too.

[Ralph Turner]

+1 to all for excellent comments.

[Ron Boerger]

Claire Hale's dad wrote a wonderful retrospective to his daughter and the struggles she overcame - repeatedly - during her time at Trinity.  I think you'll find it worth a read. 

https://medium.com/@TravisHale/her-love-is-complicated-9a7b4afae2c7

[D3Navy]

Claire Hale's dad wrote a wonderful retrospective to his daughter and the struggles she overcame - repeatedly - during her time at Trinity.  I think you'll find it worth a read. 

https://medium.com/@TravisHale/her-love-is-complicated-9a7b4afae2c7

Oak pollen is gettin' in my eyes...

Beautiful.

[Ron Boerger]

Riley Zayas amplified a d3ticker.com report that Southwestern is in the market for a new WBB head coach.  Six years of non-winning seasons (.500 the first) was enough, I guess.  Many Southwestern women's team sports are very competitive - soccer, volleyball, tennis have made strides and been in the thick for championships and won a few over the years - there's absolutely no reason a school with their resources should be struggling to even qualify for the end-of-year SCAC championships.   A good hire should be able to get the program back into shape by the time they move to SAA.

Had they made the move a year earlier, they might have been able to land Joe Shotland from Trinity instead of seeing him go to UT-Dallas where he had a pretty decent year one. 

[jekelish]

My understanding is that St. Thomas is in the market for a new coach, too. I believe Coach Cross left to take a job at the high school level.

[Ron Boerger]

My understanding is that St. Thomas is in the market for a new coach, too. I believe Coach Cross left to take a job at the high school level.

Would not be a surprise, given the lack of success the Celts have had (relative to their other programs) since they lost their scholarship holdovers after '19-'20.  At the same time neither her social media or the school's website have been updated to reflect a change. 

This year's team was young - no seniors - so whomever takes over if this is the case should have a more experienced squad to work with next year. 

[Riley Zayas]

I would totally agree. I have heard that UST is making more of a push to further its athletic success in D3, just taking a little while since transitioning from NAIA. Pretty good place to recruit if you're a coach, as the Houston area has lots of talent.

And yes, I have heard the same that UST WBB is open. My understanding is that it has been open for quite some time now.

[jekelish]

FYI: Coach Cross has now been removed from the UST website, just to confirm that job is in fact open.