Women's Basketball starts Road Trip with Setback at No.13 Trinity
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The University of Dallas women's basketball team fell in its first road conference game by a final of 69-49 at No. 13 Trinity University on Friday night. Dallas surrendered a 22-9 deficit after one quarter, and were unable to narrow the gap against the preseason favorites to win the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC).
A trio of players led UD in scoring with 13 points. Jules Oliveti (Southlake, Texas) was among that unit, as she produced a personal-bests in both that and rebounds (14) to boast her first collegiate double-double.
The Crusaders fell to 5-7 on the season and 0-2 in SCAC play. Trinity prevailed in its conference opener and moved to 8-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Trinity scored the first four points within the first 40 seconds out of the tip. A jumper by Helen Onyenso (Oak Park, Ill.) got the Crusaders on the board three minutes in, but the hosts had been missing early as well. Down 4-2, the Tigers scored four more points before Michelle DeCoud (Monument, Colo.) dropped her first points of the contest five and a half minutes to in to make it 8-4.
The Tigers netted the next seven points to go up by double-digits for the first time with Julia Ackerman draining a three-pointer at 2:49. That outburst later led to TU breaking out on a 14-5 scoring span to close the period up by 13. Trinity produced 10 of those points off turnovers, which the Crusaders committed 32 of in the game.
Dallas played nearly even over the next 20 minutes. Down 18 after three minutes into the second quarter, DeCoud etched five straight points to narrow the margin back to 13. At 3:22 before the half, Oliveti made a layup to bring the gap to 12 (31-19). The Crusaders trailed at the break 35-21.
Both teams tallied 11 points in the third, but the Crusaders never came closer than 12 the rest of the contest. Onyenso was responsible for the jumper with just over a minute left to reflect that differential a final time for Dallas.
A huge start in the fourth gave Trinity a 16-5 scoring stretch over first six minutes to seal the game away.
STAT NOTABLES
Joining Oliveti with 13 points were DeCoud and Onyenso. The senior tandem also gave Dallas three players with double-doubles by each pulling down 10 boards. DeCoud now has six double-doubles on the season. Shelby Waldron (Banning, Calif.) dished a season-high four assists. Waldron missed her career-best by one, which was at the same venue in 2016-17 (Jan. 28th).
Trinity shot 35.1 percent (26-74) compared to UD's 34 percent (18-53). Both teams were not sharp from three with Dallas going 1-for-16 and the Tigers hit 6-of-28. The guests had one extra made free throw (12) but were 60 percent compared to 68.8 percent for Trinity.
The Tigers scored a 26-5 differential on points from turnovers, as they only committed 11. Dallas edged TU on the glass by 18 (54-36), and were only outscored 26-24 on points in the paint.
12 individuals broke into the scoring column for Trinity, with Ackerman leading all players with 15 from the bench. Kate Irvin was another reserve for the Tigers in double-digits with 10. Micah Weaver and Mollie Hughes – the team's top two scorers – were held to nine and eight, respectively. Weaver and Ackerman did share the ball well with each delivering five dimes. The team had 20 overall.
TIP-INS
- Dallas recorded a season-high 37 defensive rebounds.
- It was the 3rd time this year that UD surpassed the half century mark for boards. Two of the first three games (Dallas Christian and at Illinois Tech) were the other occasions.
- DeCoud tied a season-best four blocked shots. UD swatted six as a team for a game-high this campaign.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Final | #UDCrusaders Women's Basketball drops Friday's #SCACwbb matchup at Trinity. Oliveti notched career-highs in points and rebounds for 1st double-double! | @dallaswbb #GoUD #UDWBB #d3h pic.twitter.com/t1A10gdTz8
— UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports) January 6, 2018
UP NEXT
Dallas continues conference play at Schreiner University on Saturday. First tip will follow the men's game scheduled around 6 p.m.