IRVING, TX -- Texas Lutheran women's basketball (13-8, 10-3 SCAC) clinched an overtime victory at University of Dallas (5-16, 2-11 SCAC) on Friday night, outlasting the Crusaders in an 82-68 decision inside the Maher Center in Irving, Texas.
The Bulldogs outscored Dallas 21-7 in overtime and limited the Crusaders to just one field goal in the period on its way to securing the victory.
Three Bulldogs scored in double figures - including two off of the bench. Morgan Rodriguez (New Braunfels/Canyon) tallied a career-high 22 points off of the bench, Jayla Santa Maria (Edinburg/Edinburg) added 18, and Kailey Lacy (Pflugerville/Hendrickson) pitched in 14 points - one off of her career-high.
Texas Lutheran took advantage of a 50-27 rebound advantage posting 27 second chance points from their extra possessions generated from 19 offensive rebounds. Taylor Skurka (New Braunfels/Steele) had six of those nineteen offensive boards as she grabbed a career-high nine rebounds. Kailey Lacy also registered a career-high on the glass grabbing eight rebounds.
The Bulldogs also did a great job of moving the ball, assisting on over half of its 29 made field goals. Eight players dished out multiple assists with Tanyse Moehrig (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley) dishing a team-high three assists.
Texas Lutheran faced a 19-14 deficit after the first quarter but the Bulldogs battled back to take a 33-29 lead at the half. Texas Lutheran would hold Dallas for just over six minutes in the second quarter as they went on an 11-0 run.
After a back-and-forth third quarter, the game would be tied 45-all entering the fourth quarter as the Crusaders took advantage of the Bulldogs being unable to buy a bucket for the first 3:40 of the period.
Neither team could separate themselves in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs would get up by as many as seven points in the quarter but the Crusaders fought right back into the game just as it looked like the Bulldogs may pull away. A Morgan Rodriguez jumper put the Bulldogs ahead 61-59 with 52 seconds remaining but the Crusaders were able to sink two free throws with 40 seconds remaining to force overtime.
The Crusaders would take a 65-63 lead with 3:50 remaining in overtime but would never regain the lead as the Bulldogs responded with a 12-1 run over the course of the next two minutes. Overtime was dominated by Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) defensively as she registered three of her career-high five steals within the five minute period.
The Bulldogs conclude their brutal five road games in 11 days stretch with a 3-2 record. The Bulldogs take a three-day rest before hosting St. Thomas on Tuesday, February 15th at Memorial Gymnasium. Tip-off between the Bulldogs and the Celts is currently set for 7:30 PM. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.
