SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran women's basketball team collected its third straight SCAC win of the new year with a 61-53 victory over St. Thomas Friday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium in Seguin.

The win is their tenth straight regular season SCAC victory dating back to last season.

The Bulldogs led by five at halftime gritted out a victory over the Celts despite an off shooting night. Texas Lutheran converted on 38.5 percent of its shots in the game but used a 29-18 advantage in turnovers to produce 16 extra shots in securing the win. The Bulldogs would set a new program record with 22 steals on the night, surpassing their 21 steal effort last season against Concordia. The Bulldogs were led defensively by six steals each from Kailee Mulkey (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) and Sarahi Jones (Los Fresnos/Los Fresnos), matching Mulkey's career high and establishing a new career high for Jones. From those turnovers, TLU scored 29 points and held a 15-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

Junior guard Lauren Sansano (San Antonio/FEAST) scored in double figures (17) for the 10th time this season in 11 games played. She added five assists and three steals. Mulkey stuffed the stat sheet adding 16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists to her six steals. Jones also did a little bit of everything on Friday finishing with eight points, nine rebounds, and three assists in addition to her half dozen steals. Senior Elexis Morado (Kingsville/Santa Gertrudis Academy) finished with a career-high three steals and added six points and four rebounds.

The Bulldogs found open looks early but couldn't get them to drop as the Celts took an early 6-2 lead before a 15-0 run from the Bulldogs completely flipped the quarter as TLU would lead 17-12 after the first despite seven early turnovers.

Jones and Morado would combine to score nine of the Bulldogs 16 points in the second quarter as the two teams traded baskets in the period as the five point advantage carried into halftime.

The Bulldogs came out of the break ice cold as the Celts mounted a 10-4 run to start the second half leading into the second media timeout. The Bulldogs would outscore the Celts 15-6 over the final five minutes to carry an eight point lead into the fourth. The Bulldogs would obtain their largest lead of the night in the fourth, leading by as many as 13 points and would cruise through the final minutes on Friday.

Up next, TLU wraps their home weekend on Sunday, January 12, as the #24/25 Colorado College Tigers travel to Seguin. Tip-off is set for 12 PM. The game will be streamed on TLU+. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.