Tigers Finish Weekend Sweep with SCAC Win at Birmingham Southern

Birmingham, Ala. - The Trinity Tigers women concluded their SCAC road trip with a 72-61 victory Saturday night over the Birmingham-Southern Panthers in Bill Battle Coliseum.

Trinity, which won its second straight game, and sixth of the last seven, improved to 9-10 and 6-5 SCAC. Birmingham-Southern dropped to 13-7 and 8-3.

The Tigers were paced by senior guard Danielle Hubenak, with 21 points, and 19 by junior forward Abby Dietert. Hubenak (San Antonio/Churchill) shot 6-11 from the field, sank 7-7 free throws, and led the game with four steals. Dietert (Cibolo, Texas/Steele) hit 8-13, went 3-3 at the charity stripe, pulled in a game-best nine rebounds, and recorded three steals.

First-year guard Murphy Burns (Oklahoma City/Heritage Hall) added nine points. Nicolette Halbleib (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) scored eight points, and made six rebounds.

The score was tied at 27-27 at halftime. The Panthers went out to an early five-point second-half lead, but the Tigers tied the match-up at 34-34 with 15:10 on the clock. Trinity took a five-point lead (43-38) at 12:59, until Birmingham-Southern led 44-43 at 11:24. The Tigers
never trailed after that mark in the game, and took a six-point lead (50-44) on a jumper by Dietert at 8:57. BSC did close to two (50-52, at 6:32), but the Tigers outscored their opponents 20-11 to close out the contest.

Ashton Spurgin paced Birmingham-Southern with 13 points and six rebounds.

The Tigers capitalized on the Panthers 21 turnovers, scoring 27 points off the change of possession.

Trinity shot 43.9 percent (25-57) and Birmingham-Southern hit 43.1 percent (22-51). The Tigers held a 37-30 advantage in rebounding, and led 13-8 in offensive boards.

The Tigers conclude their regular-season road schedule with two SCAC games next weekend. Trinity travels to Jackson, Miss., next Friday for a game with Millsaps, and to Conway, Ark., Saturday for a meeting with Hendrix.