SEGUIN, TX -- Senior Jayla Santa Maria (Edinburg/Edinburg) came through in the clutch yet again in Memorial Gymnasium for Texas Lutheran as her mid-range jumper with two seconds remaining was able to give the Bulldogs the win - her second game winner of the season and second out of the last three home games. After building an 11-point lead in the second half, Texas Lutheran defeated University of Dallas 70-68 at Memorial Gymnasium Friday night.
Santa Maria led Texas Lutheran in scoring with 23 points, highlighted by 16 second half points including four clutch free throws and the mid-range dagger with two seconds remaining. Morgan Rodriguez (New Braunfels/Canyon), who scored 14 points, made three clutch free throws down the stretch in a game that got too close for comfort for the Bulldogs.
Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) joined the seniors in double figures pouring in 16 points, six rebounds, and four steals - moving her into the top five in the conference in the category with 1.8 steals per game. Mulkey carried the Bulldogs offense early on scoring 10 first half points amidst a Bulldogs offense that struggled to find itself early on in the night.
Senior Jenesis Navarro's (San Antonio/Lee) defensive prowess continued to shine Friday night as she once again stuffed the stat sheet finishing the night with a seven point, four rebound, three assist, and six steal stat line.
Texas Lutheran improves its record to 8-5 (5-0 SCAC) while University of Dallas drops to 5-11 (2-6 SCAC).
The first half was evenly matched as both teams struggled to find any sort of rhythm and combined for 19 fouls in the opening two quarters. Each team had their near double digits leads throughout the half but neither was able to effectively pull away as the Bulldogs led by one, 30-29 at the intermission.
The second half was more of the same as fouls and streaky shooting plagued the night. Texas Lutheran opened the half with a 10-0 run to stretch their halftime lead to 11 points before the Crusaders closed the quarter with an 18-7 run to tie the game 47-all entering the fourth quarter.
Santa Maria came alive in the fourth quarter - accounting for 10 of the Bulldogs 23 fourth quarter points. The momentum would ebb and flow between both teams with the Crusaders leading by as many as five points. Free throws from Rodriguez cut into the Dallas lead before Santa Maria would bring it home for the Bulldogs scoring their final six points - reclaiming their first lead since the 4:06 mark in the fourth quarter with two seconds remaining in the ball game following the Santa Maria game winner.
Next up, the Bulldogs hit the road to face the Ladies of Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Monday, January 24th, at 7:30 PM. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.
