TYLER, TX (12.6.14) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team knocked off rival and No. 6-ranked Texas-Tyler, 55-47, Saturday afternoon to move to the top of the American Southwest Conference standings.
The Comets (now 6-1, 3-1 ASC) collected their third-straight league win after dropping their ASC opener by holding host UT-Tyler without a field goal for the final 5:18 of the contest. Senior
Madi Hess led a balanced UTD scoring attack with a team-best 15 points while senior
Amber Brown and
Iemah Wallace-Perry each finished with nine points.
Falling behind to UT-Tyler early in the game, the Comets did not grab their first lead of the contest until there was just 44 seconds left in the first half, 24-23, on a Hess three-pointer. The host Patriots (now 5-1, 2-1 ASC) scored the first six points of the game and snagged a seven-point cushion twice in the half before UTD began its charge. With the Comets down, 17-10 with 5:44 left before intermission, UTD rolled off six-straight points, capped by a Hess lay up, to draw within a point, 17-16, over the next 81 seconds. UTT regained a three-point lead twice before Hess' three-pointer that ended the first-half scoring.
The Comets opened the second half with a jumper by Brown to extend their lead to three points before UTT got five-straight points from Brittany King as the Patriots regained a two-point lead, 28-26, with 16:01 to play. UTD would tie the game twice before taking back the lead, 35-33, with a Wallace-Perry lay up with 10:35 remaining. The two teams then traded blows over the next several minutes before the Comets would extend their lead to six points, 47-41, with 6:34 left after another Wallace-Perry bucket. UTD extended their lead to as many as 10 points down the stretch as the Comets held UTT 0-for-5 from the field over the final five minutes.
UTD ended the game shooting 37.5 percent (18-of-48) from the field after hitting just 6-of-21 shots (28.6%) during the first half. The Comets closed out the contest just 4-of-13 (30.8%) from three-point range while hitting 15-of-18 (83.3%) free throws. UTD out-rebounded the Patriots, 32-27.
Hess was 5-for-9 from the field, hitting 3-of-6 three-pointers, and added three steals and two assists. Wallace-Perry led UTD with six rebounds.
The Comets will now have two fulls off before returning the floor on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Sul Ross State. Game time is 1 p.m. in Alpine.
