TLU women sweep Centenary in season opening road swing
(Shreveport, La.) – Texas Lutheran opened the 2020-21 women’s basketball season with back-to-back road wins over Centenary this past weekend, rolling past the Ladies 87-39 on Friday and surviving a more competitive game 70-61 on Saturday.
The Bulldogs led Friday’s game 41-24 lead at the half and outscored the Ladies 46-15 in the second half. TLU led by as many as 50 late in the game.
Senior shooting guard Olivia Balderas paced the Bulldogs with 16 points, a career-high that she would eclipse a day later. Balderas hit five of her six total shots and four of her five attempts from the three-point line.
Balderas, who also had three assists, led four Bulldogs in double figures. Senior post Abby Hroch registered a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Hroch made six of her 12 shots from the field.
Sophomore guard Kailey Lacy chipped in a career-best 15 points. She made a career-best five three-pointers, going 5-for-6 from the arc.
Fellow sophomore Sydney Shaw also added a career-high in points. Shaw, a guard/forward, scored 10 and added five rebounds.
Redshirt sophomore shooting guard Jayla Santa Maria pulled down nine rebounds and scored seven.
TLU made 13 of its 26 three-point attempts and shot 48.3 percent overall (28-for-58). Centenary was held to 26.4 percent shooting overall and to 29.4 percent from the arc.
Balderas poured in a career-high 18 points and drained a career-best six threes in 10 attempts on Saturday. She went a combined 10-15 from three-point range on the weekend.
The Bulldogs moved to 2-0 overall and to 2-0 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Centenary dropped to 0-2 overall and to 0-2 in the SCAC.
Balderas scored 15 (all on three-pointers) in the second half as TLU out-scored Centenary 44-28 in the closing 20 minutes. TLU opened the second half by out-scoring the Ladies 23-9 in the third quarter.
Hroch scored nine of her 12 points in the second half. Hroch made four of her six total shots and pulled down eight rebounds, four on the offensive glass.
Santa Maria added 10 points and four rebounds, and senior point guard Tara Molina recorded five rebounds, four points, four assists, and two steals.
Shaw delivered eight points and eight rebounds.
TLU returns to action on Friday, Jan. 29 with a 5 p.m. home conference game against Trinity. The TLU women’s and men’s games against Trinity on that date will air live on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com, with streaming video available at tlubulldogs.com.
TLU men open season with road split vs. Centenary
(Shreveport, La.) – Texas Lutheran opened the 2020-21 men’s basketball season with a 61-52 road loss to Centenary on Friday, but bounced back to beat the Gents 68-55 at the Gold Dome on Saturday.
In a rematch of last year’s Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship game, the defending champion Gents held TLU to 30.2 percent shooting on Friday. The Bulldogs were just 6-for-24 (25.0 percent) from the three-point line. TLU also missed seven free throws.
Centenary shot 36.4 percent from the floor and 31.6 percent from the arc.
TLU was hurt by 20 turnovers. The Bulldogs did out-rebound the Gents 51-40. TLU had a 21-12 edge on the offensive glass.
Sebastian Andrade and Caleb Lister each had 12 points for the Bulldogs. Lister produced a double-double, with his 12 points and 11 rebounds. Andrade added six rebounds.
Jamir Mason and Garrett Prince each collected 10 rebounds.
The Bulldogs (1-1, 1-1 SCAC) dialed up the defensive intensity in Saturday’s win, holding Centenary (1-1, 1-1 SCAC) to 23.1 percent shooting from the field.
TLU made nearly half of its total shots, 47.9 percent, and made four more three-pointers than the Gents.
The Bulldogs received a balanced scoring effort. Seniors Jamir Mason, Caleb Lister, and Sebastian Andrade scored 14, 13, and 12 points, respectively.
Mason and Andrade each had six rebounds, and Lister added five boards. Mason was 8-for-8 at the foul line.
First-year post Garrett Prince scored eight and gathered six rebounds. Seven different Bulldogs scored at least six points.
Prince recorded seven blocked shots in his first two collegiate games, swatting away four attempts on Friday and three more on Saturday.
TLU out-rebounded Centenary 47-35 and overcame 25 turnovers.
TLU does not play again until Friday, Jan. 29 with the first of back-to-back home games against Trinity. That Friday night contest starts at 8 p.m., following the 5 p.m. TLU v. Trinity women’s game.
The Friday, Jan. 29 games between TLU and Trinity will air live on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com, with streaming video available at tlubulldogs.com.