MARSHALL, TX (02.24.22) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team avenged its most recent defeat Thursday afternoon as the Comets clamped down defensively and held off LeTourneau, 59-52, in the opening round of the ASC Championship Tournament, hosted by East Texas Baptist at Ornelas Gym.
 
ASC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
POST-GAME INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH POLLY THOMASON AND COMETS PARIS KISER AND JORDAN RUDD 

The No. 4-seeded Comets (14-7) have now advanced to the semifinals of the event for the sixth consecutive season and will next play at 5 p.m. Friday against regular-season champion and No. 16-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor. UMHB moved on to the semifinals after a 60-51 win over No. 8-seed Belhaven on Thursday.
 
UTD dominated the boards against the YellowJackets (13-9) in the quarterfinal round, out-rebounding LETU by a 47-34 margin, including 17 offensive boards in the victory. The Comets held LETU to just 30.8 percent shooting accuracy from the floor and scored 19 points off of 20 YellowJacket turnovers.
 
Paris Kiser sparked the Comets with a team-high 13 points while Blythe Williams added 10 points and Jordan Rudd finished with nine points. Rudd added eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, all team bests.
 
Leading 27-23 at the break, UTD had to overcome a third-quarter surge by the fifth-seeded YellowJackets and would control the tempo down the stretch to hold on for the win. LETU opened the second half on a 5-0 run, taking a 28-27 lead with 8:12 left in the third after a Ajanae Thomas three-pointer.
 
The YellowJackets extended their lead to three points less than a minute later before Kiser knotted the game with an old-fashioned three-point play and Rudd gave the Comets the lead for good, 34-31, with a trey with 6:51 left in the period. UTD led by as many as 11 points in the third before settling for a six-point cushion, 46-40, heading into the final quarter.
 
The Comets held LETU to just three field goals over the final 10 minutes en route to ousting the YellowJackets in the opening round of the tournament for the second straight season. LETU hit just 3-of-14 shots from the floor in the fourth, going 0-for-3 from three-point range, while the Comets held a 15-9 rebounding advantage in the period.

UTD is making its 16th straight trip to the ASC Tournament this season with the Comets claimed the league title in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.