Crusaders Stumble at Texas Lutheran on Friday
SEGUIN, Texas - The University of Dallas women's basketball team fell to Texas Lutheran University 83-36 on Friday evening. The Crusaders (1-14, 1-6 SCAC) were held to just 10 points in the first half. TLU (11-7, 7-2 SCAC) used a 48-10 lead at the midway point and a 49.2 field goal percentage in the game to cruise to victory.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-0 advantage to open up the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) game. Jules Oliveti (Southlake, Texas) ended that run with a made jumper. A few minutes later Gracie Williams (Midwest City, Okla.) hit a big three-pointer, but TLU grew the advantage to 25-5 after one period. Tara Molina, Morgan Rodriguez, and Jayla Santa-Maria each had six points in that quarter.
TLU had a 21-1 run through nine and a half minutes of the second quarter. Alexis Vera (San Antonio, Texas) ended that drought with a made three-pointer for UD. The other two Crusaders points in the frame came from the free-throw line. Olivia Balderas led the Bulldogs with six points in that period.
The Bulldogs had a 9-2 run to open up the third quarter, capped off by a Molina made layup. Vera hit another three-pointer to help UD get some traction with a 4-0 run of its own. The Bulldogs prevented a momentum shift as they secured an 8-0 run at the 3:37 mark left in the third. Vanessa Diaz (San Antonio, Texas) made three points from the charity stripe with two and a half minutes left. Diaz had a nice night from the line, going 7-10 on the night to lead UD in that category. Oliveti secured four points down the stretch off of layups, but TLU took a 71-24 lead into the final frame.
Both teams scored 12 points in the finals frame. TLU had a 7-0 run midway through the quarter to extend the lead to 83-28. Dallas ended the game on an 8-0 run of its own, as Oliveti scored the final six points. Diaz scored the other six Crusaders points in that final period.
Oliveti led the Crusaders matching a season-high 14 points on the evening along with seven rebounds. Diaz followed right behind her teammate with 11 points and eight rebounds, as she has now reached double-figures in 12 straight games. Vera had six points, while Williams added four.
Three different Bulldogs had double-digit points. Molina led the trio with 12 points, while Santa Maria contributed 11, and Rodriguez added 10. Madyson Garcia and Alexis Torres came down with six rebounds each to lead TLU. The Bulldogs shot 48 percent (12-25) from behind the arc. The team also shot 7-8 (87.5 percent) from the free-throw line. TLU scored 26 points off of 25 UD turnovers to get past UD.
Both teams came down with 34 rebounds.
UP NEXT
Dallas will play at Southwestern University on Saturday (1/19). First tip is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.