RICHARDSON, TX (03.08.15) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team is heading to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III National Tournament after earning a hard-fought 67-65 win over rival Texas-Tyler Sunday afternoon in a second round game.

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 The No. 24-ranked Comets (now 26-4) picked up their first-ever NCAA Tournament win Saturday night with a 63-38 victory over Rhodes and improved to 2-1 all-time in the event with Sunday's third win of the season over American Southwest Conference foe and No. 13-ranked UT-Tyler. UTD will next face No. 3-ranked George Fox University (29-0) Friday at 4 p.m. (Central) in a third-round game on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

 

As expected, the fourth meeting of the season between the two ASC rivals will go down as one of the best-ever games in rivalry history. After going 3-1 against the Patriots this season, UTD is now 11-13 all-time against UT-Tyler and is 2-0 all-time against the Patriots in the postseason, after picking up an 82-74 win in the ASC title game last Saturday in Tyler.

After three ties and four lead changes in the opening half, the Comets trailed UTT, 36-35, heading into the locker room. The Patriots scored the first eight points of the game, forcing an early UTD timeout. The Comets responded with a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to knot the game, 10-10, forcing the first tie of the half. UT-Tyler grabbed a five-point lead, 17-12, with 12:24 remaining before halftime, but the Comets rallied with nine straight points, including three-pointers by Iemah Wallace-Perry and Emily Price, to snag a 21-17 advantage with 10:24 on the clock. UTD led for the majority of the next seven minutes before the Patriots took the lead for good in the half, 31-30, on a pair of free throws by Brittany King at the 3:44 mark. The Patriots led by as many as six points late in the half before a UTD finished the period with a pair of free throws by Madi Hess and a jumper by Wallace-Perry.

The Comets regained the lead with the first points of the second half as Wallace-Perry scored on a running lay up to lift UTD to a 37-36 advantage with 18:44 left to play. After trading the lead with UTT two minutes later, the Comets took back the lead, 42-40, with 15:44 left on an Amber Brown lay up and never trailed again. UTD extended its lead to as many as nine points twice before the Patriots made a final surge. UT-Tyler clawed within a point, 60-59, with 2:18 remaining after a King lay up and eventually tied the game, 63-63, on another King bucket with 46 seconds left.

UTD regained the lead on the next trip down the floor on a Brown lay up and took the ball back after a charge was called on UTT's King with 15 seconds remaining. Brown would hit 1-of-2 free throws two seconds later, but King drew the Patriots back within a point, 66-65, on a lay up with four seconds left. UTT fouled Comet point guard Madi Hess on the entry pass and she hit the first of two free throws for the final point of the game. After rebounding the missed free throws with no timeouts left, UTT failed to a get a desperation shot off before the final buzzer.

The Comets finished the game shooting 46.2 percent (24-of-52) from the field, hitting 5-of-16 (31.3%) three-pointers, and shot just 63.6 percent (14-of-22) from the foul line. Wallace-Perry finished with a season-high 22 points on 8-of-12 accuracy, hitting 3-of-6 treys, and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the line. Brown finished with her third "double-double" of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Hess finished with six points and a game-high six assists.

For UT-Tyler (now 27-3), King led three Patriots in double figures with 23 points while adding a game-best 16 rebounds. Madison Wilson had 13 points and Michelle Obach added 10 points. Obach also had six assists. The Patriots shot just 34.4 percent (22-of-64) from the floor, hitting 4-of-8 (50%) three-pointers, and were 17-of-22 (77.3%) from the free-throw line. UTT held a slim advantage in rebounding, 39-38.