RICHARDSON – In their last home game of the season, the No. 22 nationally ranked Lady Comets were not about to let the Patriots come into their place and pull off the upset.
Patriots’ Marzetta Shepard, left, drives to the basket against Lady Comets’ Chelsea Smith during the women’s heartbreaking 90-83 overtime loss against No. 22 nationally ranked University of Texas at Dallas. By Mikosha Phoenix.
Down 71-63 with 2:42 remaining, the Lady Comets (20-3, 17-1 in conference) went on a 9-1 run to force overtime and eventually pulled off the 90-83 comeback victory. The win gave the University of Texas at Dallas women its first American Southwest Conference East Division Championship.
“It is great to get that first division championship because these players have worked hard all season long for this,” Lady Comets coach Polly Thomason said. “To clinch the division at home and cut down the nets in front of our own fans is a unique experience.” Getting the win, however, did not come easily for the Lady Comets.
The Patriots took command of the game from the beginning, jumping out to a 15-7 lead and extending it to 23-15. The Lady Comets then went on a 12-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 27-25 with 6:51 remaining in the first half.
Each team traded the lead once and the Lady Comets were ahead at halftime, 37-35.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half, both teams went back and forth with the lead growing to no more than two points on each side. With 4:57 to go, Marzetta Shepard started what turned into an 8-0 run, giving the Patriots a 71-63 lead with 2:42 to go.
After Chelsea Edwards scored four straight for the Lady Comets to make it 71-67, Becky Taylor was fouled with 54 seconds remaining. Taylor missed the first free throw and made the second one to extend the Patriots lead to 72-67.
Lady Comets’ Rachel Addison then went to free-throw line with 40 seconds left after being fouled and made both free throws, cutting the deficit to 72-69. On the inbounds play, the Patriots were immediately called for a crucial traveling turnover, giving UT Dallas the ball back with 37 seconds remaining. That is when Lady Comets’ leading scorer, Lyndsey Smith, stepped up and made the biggest shot of the night. The lefty drained a contested three-point shot, tying the game at 72-72, giving her 16 second-half points.
The Patriots then made another turnover on the inbound pass, giving UT Dallas a chance to win the game but their shot fell short with eight seconds remaining.
Once again, the Patriots had another chance to win the game, but Shepard drove the lane, missing the first shot, grabbed the offensive rebound and missed her second shot to win the game.
“Lyndsey is a special player and she hits big shots for us,” Thomason said. “We just have to get her the ball and she will find the opening.” In overtime, UT Dallas went in with all the momentum and despite falling down by two early on, the Lady Comets got a 79-76 lead and never gave it up from there.
“We felt our defense wasn’t the strongest the whole game but it was great to see it come through in overtime,” Thomason said.
Smith led all scorers with 27 points, going 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Other Lady Comets in double figures were Edwards with 19 and Lauren Hale with 17 points and nine rebounds.
On the Patriots side, they were led by Lindsay Eaton, who put in 26 points while grabbing eight rebounds.
“I thought Lindsay did a great job tonight,” Deike said. “She made some key mistakes down the stretch but I am still very proud of her performance.”
Following Eaton were Taylor and Marci Trogus, who both recorded double-double’s, with Taylor finishing with 17 points and 15 rebounds while Trogus ended with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“We had the game in our hands and we threw it away,” Deike said. “We have to be smarter next time and learn from this.”
On Saturday, the Patriots got back to its winning ways when they traveled to Clarksville, Ark. to defeat The University of the Ozarks, 89-59. Eaton led all scorers with 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds while Taylor followed closely with 20 points and recorded a game-high 13 rebounds.
With the loss to UT Dallas on Thursday and the win on Saturday against the Ozarks, the Patriots sit in third place in the ASC East Division with a 12-6 record, one game ahead of Louisiana College for fourth place.
The Patriot and Louisiana College meet Thursday night in Pineville, La.
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