Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (11.16.10) – The UT Dallas women's basketball team saw a big first-half lead slip away, but rallied late to top Austin College, 58-48, in their season opener.

UT Dallas, playing their first game with a virtually rebuilt starting lineup, finished the game off with an 18-8 run over the final 5:51 to seal their first win of the season in front of a spirited crowd. The Comets had to overcome an early second-half letdown that saw the Lady 'Roos (0-1) come back from a 30-19 halftime deficit to tie the game at 36-36 just nine minutes in.

"We fought hard and kept working," UTD head coach Polly Thomason said afterwards. "It wasn't pretty, and we committed way too many turnovers, but we did what we had to do to get the win and that was play big in the end."

Upperclassmen Lyndsey Smith and Tawni Ichimura led the Comets with a combined 33 points, and senior Tarneisha Scott came close to a double-double with a nine-point, 10-rebound night. Though undersized, UTD did win the battle underneath, outrebounding AC, 45-38.

Still, the two teams combined for 44 turnovers and each ended the night shooting an almost identical 29 percent from the floor. UTD did have a slight edge at the free throw line, hitting 14-of-17 while AC missed 7-of-22 attempts.

After an extremely slow start by both teams, UTD finally opened up an early cushion by finishing the final 5:02 of the first period with a 16-9 run. Ichimura capped the scoring with a dramatic, buzzer-beating half-court shot for the final three points of the half.

UTD opens American Southwest Conference play this weekend when they host Schreiner University at 1 pm Saturday afternoon, then welcome Trinity University for another non-conference tilt at 2 pm Sunday.

BOXSCORE