Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (12.29.12) - Junior
Morgan Kilgore scored 21 points as the UT Dallas women's basketball team cruised to a 66-41 non-conference home win over Agnes Scott College (GA) in the Comets' return to the floor after the holiday break.
The Comets (now 9-1 overall) used a hot start to pick up their sixth consecutive victory, rolling out to a 20-0 advantage to open the game, and holding the visiting Scotties without a field goal for nearly 14 minutes of the opening half. UTD shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes play to grab a 42-19 halftime lead and never looked back.
UTD had come charging out of the gate to build a 20-0 lead before the Scotties' finally got on the board with four free throws. After that ice-cold start, Agnes Scott trailed 26-4 with just 6:44 remaining in the first half when Morgan Cooper connected on the Scotties' first field goal of the game after missing their first 19 attempts from the field. Only a 7-for-11 shooting performance by ASC to finish the half made the margin even close. The second half was relatively close, with UTD posting a 24-22 advantage and cooling off to a 50 percent shooting day.
The Comets clamped down defensively throughout, holding ASC to just 27.6 percent shooting (16-of-58) while finishing the game shooting 50 percent (24-of-48) themselves.
Kilgore led the Comet attack early, scoring 17 of her 21 points as the Comets built their early lead. Kilgore was 6-of-8 in the first half and had five free throws.
Jo'Anna Davis was the only other Comet in double figures with a 12 point game, though six other players contributed offensively.
UTD had nothing but free throws to open the game either until Kilgore hit UTD's first layup at 16:51. Seconds later,
Katie Korioth came to life with a steal and layup and the Comets were on their way. UTD made it 20-0 on a Kilgore fast-break layup off a
Sharmeke Shaw rebound 7:56 into the game. At the break, UTD had hit just 1-of-6 thre-pointers, but had dominated inside with 24 points in the paint. The Comets also had a 23-19 rebounding edge at the break and finished up 42-35 in that category.
UTD then started the second half on another run, outscoring ASC 10-2 in the first 3:13. A Korioth coast-to-coast fast break made the score 52-21 for UTD's largest lead in the game at 16:47.
A 6-0 answer by the Scotties cut the lead down to 25 at 52-27 over the next five minutes; and Arielle Register, who led the Scotties with 14 points, got her team that close for the final time (57-32) with the first three-pointer that ASC had converted all game long with just 7:04 remaining. The Scotties' only other three-point shot came with :25 left and cut the score down again to its 25-point margin at the end.
UTD returns to its home court on New Year's Day afternoon with a 2:00 pm non-conference game against Austin College.
