Texas Lutheran defeats Trinity, wins SCAC Championship

SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs are headed back to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament after a 68-62 win Sunday afternoon over top-seed and three-time defending champion Trinity.

The Bulldogs (19-9) completed a remarkable turn-around in SCAC competition. TLU did not make the conference tournament a year ago.

Behind the play of the tournament's Most Valuable Player, Tara Molina (San Antonio/Johnson), the Bulldogs knocked off No. 6 seed Schreiner on Friday, No. 2 seed Austin College on Saturday, and No. 1 seed Trinity on Sunday.

Molina, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, guided the Bulldogs to their second SCAC Championship in six seasons. TLU first won the SCAC title in 2014.

Molina scored 15, dished out eight assists, and grabbed five rebounds. She also collected two steals.

Backcourt teammate Dominique Campos (Laredo/Alexander) added 16 points and three rebounds, and power forward Abby Hroch (Port Lavaca/Calhoun) put up 15 points, eight rebounds and a block.

TLU led 36-23 at the half and by as many as 15 in the third quarter, the Tigers rallied behind SCAC Player of the Year Abby Holland, who gave Trinity its only lead of the game (58-57) with a jumper at the 2:51 mark.

The Bulldogs came right back down the court and went up by one on a layup from Hroch. The lead grew to six after buckets from Campos and Bryanna Delgado (Port Lavaca/Calhoun).

Delgado, a senior, hit an eight-foot floater with 47 seconds remaining to give TLU a 65-59 advantage.

TLU will find out its national tournament opponent and location Monday at 1:30 p.m. central (2:30 p.m. eastern). The link to the bracket and the live selection show can be found here.

The conference championship is the second tournament title and the fifth overall (counting regular season championships) for the Bulldogs.