The Colorado College women's basketball team opened up SCAC play on Friday, Dec. 15, against Texas Lutheran and ultimately fell 66-69 despite making a season-high 10 three-pointers. 
 
Audrey Bayston led CC in scoring with 16 points and was also 2-5 from long range. The last three-point attempt came as the buzzer sounded and the shot fell just short.
 
There were 19 lead changes in the constant back-and-forth battle between two SCAC teams who combined for a 13-5 record coming into the evening. The Bulldogs were picked to finish third in the preseason polls behind the Tigers, who received the second-most points. TLU was led by Lauren Sansano, who had a floor-high 22 points. 

"Tonight we faced an extremely talented and hard-nosed TLU team," head coach Katherine Auguste said. "The result shows that we need to continue honing our focus in key areas such as ball control and rebounding. This team has great resolve and competitiveness and we'll continue working and growing where we need to as we enter conference play."
 
Bayston played all but two minutes on Friday. She finished the game shooting 55 percent and racked up three rebounds and four assists. 

"Audrey had a great game tonight," Auguste said. "Her composure and ability to create offensive looks are proving key in several important stretches of the game."
 
The Tigers didn't shoot the ball well in the first quarter, making only 25 percent of their shots from the floor. The Bulldogs did a little better as CC held them to 23.53 percent. However, TLU led 10-9 heading into the second quarter. 
 
In the second, CC turned the tables and shot 77.78 percent heading into the halftime break. The nine field goals the Tigers attempted were three-pointers, and they missed only two. Kayla Mackel got the three-party started to give CC a 14-12 lead with 8:04 to play, and Emma Nawara made back-to-back triples to make it a five-point lead. 
 
Juliana Garcia threw her name in the hat, scoring eight straight points, including two deep balls. Kyle Rowland finished it with a three of her own, and CC had a 34-30 lead at the halftime break. 
 
The Tigers continued to shoot the ball well in the third and fourth, but they made only two more three-pointers for the rest of the game. CC shot 54 percent in the second half. 
 
CC had a two-point lead going into the final quarter, and the game went back and forth down the final stretch. TLU retook the lead with 2:52 left to play thanks to a three-pointer, only for CC to regain it six seconds after two Healy Bledsoe free throws. 
 
The lead changed thrice in the final two minutes; TLU scored a baseline jumper with 27 seconds to play and would build it to a three-point advantage with two free throws. Bayston had a chance to tie it up with the final shot that just fell short. 
 
Junior Zoë Tomlinson recorded another double-double to bring her season total to eight through ten games. The New York native recorded 12 points, 11 boards, one assist, one block and a steal. 
 
Freshman Isa Nelson is the other Tiger to finish with double-digit points. She racked up 10 points, including going 2-3 from three-point range. 

"Zoë again showed consistency with her rebounding and key buckets in the paint. Isa and Juju led on the offensive end with their composure and long-range shooting ability," Auguste said. 
 
The Tigers will host Southwestern University on Sunday inside Reid Arena at 3:00 p.m.