Box Score BROWNWOOD, TX (02.24.13) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team will be making its first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III National Tournament after a stunning 67-63 win over No. 23-ranked Louisiana College in the American Southwest Conference title game Sunday afternoon.
Junior
Morgan Kilgore's layup with 23 seconds remaining on the clock completed the Comets' comeback after trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half.
Amber Brown then hit a pair of free throws after an LC intentional foul to ice the game.
"I don't have any words to describe it," said a jubilant head coach
Polly Thomason afterwards. "To win it all after the kind of year we had, it's amazing what these girls were able to accomplish."
With the 3-0 sweep in the tournament, UTD finished the season winning seven straight games after suffering through a six-game losing streak midway through the season.
Kilgore was named Tournament MVP after scoring a game-high 16 points in UTD's second win this season over the Lady Cats.
Kellie Loukanis added 14 points while Brown scored 11 points to round out the Comets in double figures.
Katie Korioth added seven points while pitching in nine rebounds and seven assists, both game-highs. Loukanis and Korioth joined Kilgore on the All-Tournament Team.
"It was a game of really two halves," the Comet coach said of the championship game. "LC played strong and aggressive in the first half and we didn't match it. We were fortunate the lead wasn't any bigger."
The Comets (now 20-8) erased a 38-28 halftime deficit as they claimed their first conference crown in their first-ever trip to the ASC title game. UTD shot 68 percent from the field in the opening half, but suffered from 18 first-half turnovers as the Comets.
UTD turned things around in the second half, giving up the ball just eight times after the break and continuing to shoot better than 60 percent. UTD also took advantage of 17 fouls called on the Lady Wildcats after halftime, hitting 16-of-19 free throws after intermission.
"Louisiana College was playing us much more physical and aggressive defensively than they did when we played here," Thomason explained. "And the officials were letting them get away with it. But after halftime, the officials started calling a much tighter game, and we took advantage.
"We told the girls at halftime to just calm down and slow the game down," Thomason continued. "We were trying to match Louisiana speed-for-speed in the first half and that really isn't our game. We told them just to regroup, start contesting shots and play our game...and it worked."
After a three-pointer by LC's Kala Chenier to open the second half, giving the Lady Cats a 13-point cushion (41-28), the Comets used an 8-0 run over the next four minutes to climb within five points, 41-36, after a free-throw by
Jo'Anna Davis with 15:58 to play. After getting within four points on three occasions, UTD finally got within a basket just past the midway point of the second half, collecting a pair of free throws from Brown to draw within two points, 47-45. LC answered with a 7-1 run over the next two minutes to regain an eight-point advantage, 54-46, with 7:42 left, but the Comets didn't panic.
Another strong run by the Comets allowed them again to pull within two points, 54-52, with 5:59 to play after a pair of Kilgore free throws, but once more the Lady Cats answered. Less than a minute later, Louisiana College recaptured an eight-point lead, 60-52, with a Neka Jones three-pointer.
UTD fought back once again and finally grabbed its first lead since the 12:44 mark of the opening half when
Kimmie Grimes used a layup to give the Comets a 61-60 advantage with 2:18 remaining. The Comet defense then clamped down and forced a rushed layup by LC's Shaina Howard, and Grimes was there to clean up the rebound.
After a UTD timeout, the Comets slammed the boards on the offensive end, picking up two offensive rebounds before Kilgore hit a third-chance layup with 1:17 left to give UTD a 63-60 lead. LC's Kaci Willis answered at the other end with a three-pointer with 41 seconds on the clock to knot the game for the first time of the second half, but Kilgore' led the final charge with a go-ahead and game-winning layup.
UTD finished the game shooting 64.9 percent (24-of-37) as a team, hitting just 1-of-3 three-pointers, and were 18-of-23 (78.3%) from the free-throw line. Kilgore was 5-for-9 from the field and a perfect 6-for-5 from the foul line. Kilgore averaged 19.7 points and shot nearly 70 percent from the field for the tournament. The Comets out-rebounded LC, 33-22.
For the nationally-ranked Lady Cats (now 24-4), Natosha Gottlieb led three LC players in double figures with 13 points. Chenier had 12 points and Karylon Thornton came off the bench for 10 points. LC shot just 39.4 percent (26-of-66) from the field, hitting 10-of-30 (33.3%) three-pointers, and went just 1-of-3 from the charity stripe. The Lady Cats did not hit a free throw in the second half (0-2).
The selection show for the 2013 NCAA D-III National Tournament is set for 1:30 p.m. (Central) Monday at
www.ncaa.com. With the ASC's automatic berth into the tournament, the Comets will learn when, where and whom they will play in the opening round next weekend.
