RICHARDSON, TX (02.23.18) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team's hopes to be crowned repeat American Southwest Conference champions were dashed Friday night as the No. 18-ranked Comets fell to East Texas Baptist, 66-61, in the league's semifinals at the UTD Activity Center.

The Comets (23-4) looked to become the first back-to-back champion in the ASC in nearly decade but would have their nine-game winning streak snapped against a squad UTD had already beaten twice this season. ETBU (21-6) will advance to Saturday's ASC title game, facing Mary Hardin-Baylor at 6 p.m. UMHB routed Concordia Texas, 79-51, in Friday's first semifinal.

UTD got of to a strong start, grabbing a 20-9 lead on the visiting Tigers after the opening quarter, but ETBU clawed back with a 21-13 second stanza to cut the Comets lead to three points, 33-30 at the break.

The Tigers snagged their first lead of the night with 7:35 left in the quarter on a three-pointer by Katy Boren. But UTD answered with back-to-back treys from freshmen Alexa Boushy and Kelly Skinner to regain a five-point cushion, 43-38, with 6:36 in the quarter. The Comets maintained a lead until the final two minutes of the frame when the two squads traded leads before ETBU's Madison McCoy hit a running jumper that bounced up and in at the buzzer to give the Tigers a slim one-point advantage, 48-47, heading to the fourth.

The Comets opened the fourth with the first four points of the quarter, thanks to jumpers from Boushey and Victoria Pena, but ETBU with a three-pointer from McCoy with 7:01 to knot the game, 51-51. The Tigers would take the lead for good on a free throw from Amanda Wilson with just four minutes on the clock and slowly pulled away as the Comets struggled from the field as a team in the final quarter, hitting just 3-of-15 shots as a team in the period.

UTD drew back within a point with 1:23 left after two Madison Steele free throws, but went 0-for-4 as a team in the final minute of play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Comets shot better from outside the arc than within in the loss, going 8-for-21 (38.1%) from long distance. UTD was 20-of-56 (35.7%) from the field as a whole and hit just 13-of-22 (59.1%) from the free-throw line. ETBU out-rebounded the Comets, 34-31, and outscored UTD, 24-16, in the paint.

UTD scored 18 points off of 20 Tiger turnovers and finished with 14 second-chance points, compared to just seven by ETBU

KEY PERFORMERS
Boushey led the Comets with 14 points, hitting 6-of-12 shots, and added five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Skinner added 13 points while Pena had 12 points and a game-high six assists. Steele finished with seven points and a team-best six rebounds.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Comets are currently ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division III South Region and will learn their national postseason fate at 1:30 p.m. when the NCAA D-III National Tournament goes live at ncaa.com.