RICHARDSON, Texas – The LeToureau University women's basketball team would be unable to fight their way back from a slow first-quarter that saw host Texas-Dallas take a 25-12 lead as the YellowJackets fell by a final score of 72-56 at the UTD Activity Center in Richardson, Texas on Thursday, February 15th.
The loss ends the season for LETU, who finishes with a 5-20 overall record and 2-16 mark in the American Southwest Conference. Texas-Dallas, which is currently ranked No. 20 in the latest WBCA Basketeball poll, improves to 21-3 overall and 15-2 in the ASC with the win.
Shooting would be an issue for the YellowJackets throughout, as LETU finished 20-for-68 (29.4 percent) from the floor while connecting on just five-of-20 three point attempts (all five makes in the second half). The Comets fared better from the floor, hitting 45.2 percent (28-for-62) of their shots and five triples to overcome an 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) mark at the charity stripe. LETU and UTD would each collect 46 rebounds in the game, but a 40-24 advantage in points in the paint would be the difference in the game. LeTourneau would manage to hold a 19-7 advantage in second chance points over UT-Dallas.
Playing in their final games for LETU, seniors
Savannah Cummings (15 points) and
Ashley Reed (11 points) each found double-figures with sophomore
Alexandria Thorne leading the way with 17 points. Cummings added six rebounds and two assists while reed had three of LeTourneau's 10 assists in the game. Texas-Dallas was led by a game-high 20 points in the game by Victoria Pena.
The deficit for the YellowJackets would come right away as the Comets would hold LETU scoreless for the opening 3:28 of the game while connecting on four shots to open up an 8-0 lead. UTD would continue to put pressure on LeTourneau early, pushing their lead out to double-digits before a pair of
Jaila Leaven free throws and a Cummings bucket brought LETU back within seven at 15-8. A late run by UT-Dallas would see the Comets come away with eight of the final 10 points of the quarter to open up the 13 point lead heading to the second quarter as LeTourneau could not find an answer for their offensive struggles in the early going.
Not much offense would take place for either team in the second quarter, with the two squads trading buckets in the early stages of the second period before Dallas opened up a 37-19 lead with 3:19 left in the first half. Freshman
Keauna Whitfield would hit a free throw with just 30 seconds left in the quarter which would amount to being the only point scored in the final three minutes of the half.
LeTourneau would manage to hold their own for much of the second half, using an 8-1 run in the third quarter to close the gap to 46-34 with 5:30 left in the quarter after the Comets would open up their first 20-point lead of the game. UT-Dallas responded with a 10-2 run of their own to combat the YellowJacket run and reclaim their 20-plus point lead at 59-38 before a Thorne triple at the buzzer pulled LeTourneau back to 59-41.
Six straight points to open the quarter by UT-Dallas allowed the Comets to take their largest lead of the game at 65-41 with 5:41 left in the fourth quarter, but it would be all YellowJackets from that point forward. LETU would use back-to-back Thorne treys to answer the 6-0 run by UTD and go on to score five of the next seven points to get back within 14 at 66-52 with 2:56 left in the game. Reed would wind up scoring the final nine LeTourneau points of the game, but the Comets would be able to use their early lead for the victory.
