RICHARDSON, TX (01.22.15) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team had its nine-game American Southwest Conference winning streak snapped Thursday night with a 69-59 home loss to No. 12-ranked Texas-Tyler.
The 13-3 Comets, who had handed the 16-1 Patriots their only loss earlier this season, missed a chance to take control of the ASC race by letting a close game get away late. With the win, UTT improved to its league-leading record to 11-1 while the Comets fell into second at 9-2 as the second half began.
The Comets had cut the Tyler lead down to 50-49 with 7:39 to play, but gave up a 19-9 run to finish the game as the Patriots scored their final five points at the free throw line.
The Comets got 11 points and six rebounds from
Ashley Shaw while point guard
Madi Hess finished with 10 points, seven assists and four rebounds in the losing effort. But UTD could not stop the Patriot trio of Brittany King (18 points, 16 rebounds), D'Onna Matthews (15 points) and Jasmin Baskin (12 points). UTT controlled the game under the boards, out-rebounding UTD, 35-29.
UTD also gave up an 18-of-25 shooting night at the free throw line after being whistled for 19 fouls. Conversely, the Comets went to the line just 12 times and hit seven. Both teams shot well from outside the three-point line. The Patriots hit 7-of-10 shots while UTD finished 8-of-18.
The Comets actually led three different times in a back-and-forth first half, but only by a single point on each occasion. Meanwhile, the Patriots were regaining control each time, but stretched their lead to more than four points just twice.
UTD took a final lead in the game (35-34) when Hess nailed a three-pointer to open the second half, but the Patriots answered quickly and stretched the lead out to nine points (46-37) over the next 5:21 before UTD started chipping away. A three-pointer from
Iemah Wallace-Perry cut the UTT lead down to 48-45 at 10:22 and the layups by Shaw and
Micaela Gonzalez made it a one-point game with 7:39 to play.
UTD's last hope came at the 3:12 mark when a Shaw free throw got the Comets to within four (61-57), but Shaw was the only UTD to score the rest of the way, hitting a jumper at 2:14. The Patriots' final margin of 10 points was its largest of the game.
UTD jumps right back into action Saturday afternoon against University of the Ozarks. Tipoff is set for 1 pm.
