SAN ANTONIO, TX (03.06.20) - For the third straight season and fourth time in program history, the No. 21-ranked UT Dallas women's basketball team will be heading to the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball National Championship, thanks to a 74-69 come-from-behind win over No. 16-ranked and regional host Trinity University Friday night at the Bell Athletic Center.

Down by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter, the Comets (now 23-5) rallied late to collect their second win of the season over Trinity and advance to a second-round match up with American Southwest Conference foe Mary Hardin-Baylor. The two teams will square off at 7 p.m. Saturday with a berth into the NCAA D-III "Sweet Sixteen" on the line. The Comets have made just one trip to the third round of the NCAA D-III tournament, back in 2015.

"This was one of the toughest games we played all season," said UTD head coach Polly Thomason after Friday's victory over the Tigers. "It was good win over a great team. Things were going our way for most the game and we just kept trusting our teammates and got the job done."

The Comets started strong, taking a 23-21 lead after the first 10 minutes of play, but scored just eight points in the second quarter to trail the host Tigers, 36-31, at the break. Trinity (now 23-5) extended its lead to as many as 12 points twice in the third frame before UTD scored the final six points of the quarter to cut the Tiger back to just five points, 55-50, heading into the final stanza.

Katie Gunther rolled in a lay up to open the fourth for the Comets as UTD clawed within three points for the first time since the second period, but the Tigers responded and extended their lead back to seven points, 61-54, after a pair of Abby Holland free throws with 6:10 left to play. The Comets would get back within a single point twice over the next three minutes, cutting the Trinity lead to 63-62 on a Raenett Hughes lay up at the 3:26 mark, and then knotted the game less than two minutes later, 64-64, when Gunther drained a deep jump shot.

The Comets' first lead since the start of the second quarter would come with 1:01 remaining in the contest as Victoria Pena pushed UTD to a 66-64 advantage on a lay up as part of an 8-0 run by UTD. Pena would hit a pair of free throws to cap the run with 20 seconds left to give the Comets a 70-64 cushion. 

Trinity's Ashlyn Milton would drain a three-pointer after a Tiger timeout to cut the UTD lead in half, but Gunther and Hughes each answered with two clean free throws to sandwiched around a Tiger turnover to ice the victory.

Hughes led the way for the with a game-high 22 points along with four rebounds, four steals and three assists. Hughes was one of four Comets to top double figures in the victory as  Pena added 13 points, Gunther 12 points and Kelley Skinner 10 points. For the night, the Comets were 26-of-58 (44.8%) from the floor, hitting just 3-of-11 three-pointers (27.3%), and were 19-of-26 (73.1%) from the foul line. UTD out-rebounded the host Tigers, 38-33, and forced 12 turnovers.

In other regional action at the Bell Athletic Center, No. 14-ranked UMHB topped No. 22 Austin College, 78-63, to punch the Cru's ticket to the Saturday's second round.