RICHARDSON, TX (01.08.15) - Senior point guard Madi Hess finished one assist shy of the first "triple-double" in UT Dallas women's basketball history Thursday night as the Comets erased a four-point halftime deficit and cruised to a 74-54 American Southwest Conference home win over East Texas Baptist.

Hess closed out the night with a season-high 23 points while adding a career-best tying 11 rebounds and a career-high nine assists as the Comets improved to 10-2 overall and 6-1 in ASC play with the win over the Tigers (5-6, 1-5). Hess was 6-for-10 from the field, hitting 3-of-7 three-pointers, and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line. This was Hess' third overall and second straight "double-double". Senior Amber Brown was the only other UTD player in double figures with 14 points.

Down 31-27 at the half, the Comets nearly doubled up the Tigers in the second half, outscoring ETBU 47-23. While UTD was connecting on 44.7 percent of its second-half points (17-of-38), ETBU went stone cold from the floor, connecting on just 7-of-26 shots (26.9 percent). ETBU finished the game at 30.5 percent shooting while UTD hit 39.1. The Comets, however, nailed 8-of-30 three-point attempts against the Tigers' zone defense, which was anchored by 6-foot-6 post Amber Carver.
 

Carver single-handedly controlled the boards for ETBU, grabbing 15 rebounds, but the Comets made her a non-factor in the second half, using a 26-19 advantage to win the rebounding battle, 45-43. 

Hess matched ETBU's Amanda Rucker with her 23-point night, but the Comets also got 14 points from Amber Brown. April Leonard added 10 points for the Tigers.

The game looked early like it would be a dogfight as the two teams played through four lead changes and four ties in the first half. The Tigers scored the first six points of the game and it took UTD until the 14:06 mark to tie the game 8-8. A Rucker free throw at 12:05 put ETBU back in front by four (15-11), but UTD charged back with a Christina Brosnahan three-pointer, Ashley Shaw layup and a Hess three over the next three minutes to take its own four-point lead at 19-15. 

The Comets built first-half leads of five points twice more - on three-pointers from Hess (24-19 at 7:44) and Emily Price (27-22 at 3:23) - but gave up a 9-0 run to ETBU to fall behind 31-27 at the break.

The Tigers opened the second period stretching their lead out to six points (35-29) and then seven (42-35 at 14:51) before hitting their first cold spell of the game. UTD reeled off 14 unanswered points over the next four minutes and were up 49-42 at 10:43 when Iemah Wallace-Perry got into the three-point act. Two minutes later, an Amber Brown three made it 56-45 and the Comets were on their way. Over a 10-minute stretch, ETBU scored just one time from the floor while the Comets built their lead up to 19 points (65-46) with 5:37 left. 

UTD cracked the 20-point barrier (72-51) with 2:05 left on an Amber Brown fast break layup, and had a 74-51 lead with 1:44 remaining.

The Comets will try to keep their six-game conference win streak going Saturday afternoon when they host LeTourneau at 1 pm.