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| Trinity Women's Basketball Head Coach Cameron Hill addressing the players during the SCAC Championship game (photo by Joshua Moczygemba) |
There was an air of inevitability late in the fourth quarter for the Tigers, verging on a storybook second straight comeback win. And then they lost.
On Sunday, third-seeded Texas Lutheran University managed to hang on in their home gym for their first SCAC Championship since 2014 by a final score of 68-62. The first-seeded Tigers trailed by 15 points at one juncture, and they never seemed out of it.
The Tigers advanced to the Championship game after beating Colorado College 65-61 in a double-digit comeback victory the day before. The Tigers were down 30-24 at the half of the game on Saturday, but were able to work through the third quarter, and finally find a lead through senior guard Rachel Chavez’s three to take the lead, until the final whistle signaled victory.
“How do you chop down a redwood?” Head Coach Cameron Hill said after Tigers taking that lead. “One swing at a time.”
He referenced that phrase again during halftime of Sunday’s game as the Tigers trailed 36-23. He gave an impassioned speech in the locker room after being unsure of what to say, since he said he felt that the shots were mostly unluckily careening out of the basket.
“You can’t not know that you have everything you need to win this game,” he said, looking over the steely group. “You can’t.”
The boost of confidence initially worked wonders. The Tigers went down 38-23 right at the start of the third quarter but proceeded to a mammoth 16-2 run over the remainder of the quarter. For a moment, the home crowd was quieter than the Tiger bench.
The fourth quarter would not be so kind. The Tigers found themselves once again with a lid on the basket, in an open-play offensive drought that eventually stretched to nearly six minutes. With 5:21 left in the fourth, TLU led 56-48.
Coach Hill called a timeout with 4:56 remaining, changing both the offense and the defense and telling the Tigers, “Five minutes, it’s longer than you think.”
Sophomore guard Emily Daniel, who said on Friday she was excited for the challenge of some good basketball, eventually ended the drought, scoring a three from the top of the key, which set the Tigers alight.
The Tigers went on a 10-1 run in just the next two minutes, prompting a Tiger fan to shout, “It’s (expletive) raining in here, baby!” After junior forward Abby Holland hit a three to take the first Tiger lead of the game, victory seemed well within grasp, with the score of 58-57 and less than three minutes left.
TLU, however, found the belief to soldier on after taking two haymakers, going on an 8-1 run of their own to seal up the victory.
In the end, the Tigers just couldn’t make enough of their own shots as TLU shot the lights out in their home gym, and Head Coach Mel Dixon hoisted the SCAC trophy less than 24 hours after winning the conference’s Coach of the Year honor.
Tiger star forward Abby Holland, with a tournament single game record of 38 points, set the day before, nearly collected a five-by-five game alongside a career-high of 12 rebounds.
“Obviously we didn’t get the outcome we all wanted,” she said after the game. “But I’m always proud to play for this team and for my coaches regardless.”
Rachel Chavez echoed those thoughts. “Our program is so much more than basketball even though that’s a huge part. It’s about the family we’ve created,” she said. “Together Tigers forever!”
A win would have guaranteed the Tigers a berth in the Division III tournament. The bracket was announced earlier today and the Tigers did not garner a non-guaranteed spot. The loss to TLU ended their season at 22-5.
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