RICHARDSON, Texas - Stepping up with big defensive stops down the stretch in the fourth quarter, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team escaped with a gritty 47-44 win over the University of Texas Dallas Comets on the road. ETBU is now 11-0 overall continuing their best start ever in the NCAA Division III era and are 3-0 in the American Southwest Conference.
Taylor Singleton (four steals) and Grace Stephens (nine rebounds) led the way with eight points. Emma Stelzer and Mollie Dittmar would tally six points while Kaia Williams recorded three steals. The Comets were led by Raenett Hughes, who had 15 points to lead all scorers.
While both sides shot under 30% from the arc, the Tigers edged out the Comets (29.8%-28.0%) from the field. Each side made four three's for the game while the Comets outshot ETBU from the free throw line (85.7%-60.0%). ETBU won the rebounding battle 39-37 and scored 25 points off the bench to UTD's 22.
An early surge of five straight points from Singleton (6:57-6:30) put the Tigers up 5-2 in the first before the Comets answered with eight straight points (6:11-4:31) to go up 10-5. A Stelzer three (4:13) and a Grace Stephens layup (3:34) knotted things at 10. The Comets would manage to go up four points, 14-10 (2:42), but the Tigers ended the quarter on a 5-2 run culminating with a three from Bridget Upton (0:11) to trail by one, 16-15, at the end of the first.
UTD upped their lead to 19-15 early in the second quarter. The game then turned when ETBU responded with a 14-2 run to grab a 29-21 lead at the break. It started with 12 straight points (7:19-0:43) as Mollie Dittmar (7:19, 3:53) tallied four in the stretch while Hanna Hudson's three free throws put the Tigers up by eight, 27-19. Despite conceding a pair of UTD free throws, ETBU regained the eight-point lead on Stelzer's free throws at the end of the quarter. Throughout all this, the Tigers' defense would hold the Comets to just one-of-12 shooting from the field.
Following a Singleton free throw (9:45), the Comets went on a 6-0 run with two three-point plays by Hughes (8:06-7:20). Mycah McDonald (7:20), Singleton (4:31), and Haley Fieseler (3:48) answered with six straight points as ETBU led 36-27. UTD would then grab momentum back scoring 10 of the last 15 points to cut the lead to 41-37 after three quarters.
It was all defense in the fourth quarter as both sides combined for 13 points. For nearly four minutes, neither side would score until the Comets put up a pair of free throws (6:55). Hudson would record her first field goal 25 seconds later to push the lead to 43-39, which would remain for another three minutes. Mallory Stephens extended the lead to six points (3:05) before UTD cut the lead in half. With 2:35 to go, Dittmar secured a big lay-up to grab the two-possession lead back (47-42). UTD managed just one final field goal with 1:22 to go and had a chance to tie the game with a three. Fortunately for the Tigers, the shot missed and ETBU sealed the win.
ETBU travels to Clarksville, Ark., to battle with the Eagles of the University of Ozarks on Saturday at 1:00 PM.
