Bryce Hayes
For Immediate Release
CONWAY, AR — The No. 2 seed Texas Lutheran women’s basketball team fell to No. 1 seed Austin College, 53-43, Saturday night in the 2026 SCAC Tournament Semifinals in Grove Gymnasium in Conway, Arkansas. Texas Lutheran fell to 19-8 as their bid to repeat as SCAC Champions came to an end.
Davi’Yanna Jones (San Antonio/Stevens) and Lauren Sansano (San Antonio/FEAST) were the only Bulldogs in double figures on Saturday as Jones led the Bulldogs with 11 points while Sansano finished with ten points in her final collegiate game. led the Bulldogs as the only Bulldog in double figures with 16 points and added four rebounds. Seniors Hannah Gallegos (San Antonio/Harlan) and Sarahi Jones (Los Fresnos/Los Fresnos) finished with seven and six points respectively with Jones grabbing a team-high ten rebounds. With the ten rebounds, Jones passed former teammate Kailee Mulkey to finish her career third all-time in the program’s NCAA history with 578 rebounds in her career. Sansano finishes her career with 1,175 points to finish seventh all-time in program history.
Texas Lutheran struggled in the first half, losing the battle on the glass and turning the ball over 13 times in the first half. Texas Lutheran would trail 32-17 entering halftime.
The Bulldogs patented stifling defense showed up in the third quarter, limiting the ‘Roos to four points and just one made field goal in the third as the Bulldogs chipped away at the Austin College lead. Texas Lutheran trailed by as many as 19 points early in the quarter but would close the quarter on a 12-0 run to shrink the lead to seven entering the fourth.
Texas Lutheran couldn’t quite conjure the playoff magic from the night before as they would run out of gas and fall 53-43 to the ‘Roos. TLU got the lead as low as four points early in the fourth but were never able to get it to a tie ball game.
The Bulldogs – a team picked to finish first in the preseason poll – concludes the 2025-26 season with a 19-8 record, going 13-3 in the SCAC to claim second place in the Gold Division and finish second in the SCAC overall in the regular season. The Bulldogs will graduate five seniors who all played a role in the 2025 SCAC Championship Tournament and NCAA Tournament runs – Gallegos, Sansano, Sarahi Jones, Angelina Sotelo (San Marcos/San Marcos), and Emerald St. Laurent (The Woodlands/Oak Ridge). We thank them for all of their contributions to the Texas Lutheran women’s basketball program.
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