Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (01.05.12) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team continues to roll in the early stages of the season as the Comets battled for a 52-47 home win over Concordia Thursday night in American Southwest Conference crossover play.
The Comets (now 11-1, 7-1 ASC) picked up their fifth straight win and improved to 11-1 for the first time in program history after overcoming a rocky start and taking care of business at the free-throw line.
UTD got off to an auspicious start, falling behind 19-8, not halfway into the first half, but turned things around with a 16-1 run over a six-minute span to grab a 24-20 lead with 5:36 left in the first half. That run not only gave the Comets their first lead of the night but they would not trail the remainder of the contest, holding off every rally by the Tornados. CTX knotted the Comets just once after UTD took the lead, that coming at 28-28 with 1:14 left before halftime. UTD answered with four free throws by
Ashley Shaw and
Lyndsey Smith to regain a four-point lead before the Tornados got a late layup to cut the Comet lead to 32-30 at the break.
The Comets limited Concordia to just 2-of-15 shooting over the first 10 minutes of the second half as UTD slowly pulled away. The Comets led by as many as 11 points before the visiting Tornados made one final run, drawing within one point with three minutes left to play. However, UTD answered again with free throws, this time by George and Smith in the final minutes to ice the home win. Neither team shot very well in the second half as UTD was 5-for-22 (22.7%) from the field while the Tornados were 7-of-27 (25.9%).
UTD finished the game shooting 33.3 percent (14-of-42) from the field, going 0-for-10 from three-point land, but hit 24-of-29 free throws (82.8%) to help maintain their lead. Smith led three Comets in double figures with a game-high 17 points on 5-of-13 shooting, hitting 7-of-8 shots from the foul line.
Katie Korioth added 11 points and George finished with 10 points. George went 8-for-8 from the line and led UTD with nine rebounds as the Comets out-rebounded CTX, 40-35.
The Tornados (now 8-2, 6-1 ASC) suffered their first ASC loss of the season after shooting just 35.7 percent (20-of-56) from the field and going 0-for-12 from beyond the arc. CTX went just 7-of-19 (36.8%) from the free-throw line on the night. Lashanda Luckey came off the bench to lead the Tornados with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Next up for the Comets is a meeting with Mary Hardin-Baylor Saturday afternoon in the second of five home games in a 10-day period. Tip-off is 1 p.m. at the UTD Activity Center.
BOX SCORE
