ABILENE, Texas – Not giving up all the way down to the final buzzer, East Texas Baptist University came up short in the American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship to Texas Dallas, 63-57. ETBU will now wait and see if they make the NCAA Division III Tournament as an at-large bid with 20 wins as they were fifth in the Region 10 rankings this past week.
 
Mollie Dittmar and Kenidi White were named to the ASC All-Tournament team. Dittmar led the team with 14 points and nine rebounds while Bridget Upton added 11 points. White finished with nine points. UTD's Jordan Maxwell had 17 points.
 
ETBU shot only 33 percent in the game and was 3-of-11 from the arc (27 percent) making 72 percent from the line. UTD finished at 41 percent shooting, 43 percent from the three-point line and 76 percent from the free throw line. UTD also out rebounded ETBU, 36-33.
 
The first quarter went to ETBU, 13-11, taking an early 7-0 lead on a Jay Levy fast break. Jayla Hall made it 9-2 at 3:48 to go. UTD finished the quarter on a 9-4 run as ETBU held onto a two-point lead, 13-11.
 
ETBU had a one-point lead, 19-18, on a Hall jumper with 6:32 to go in the second quarter. UTD answered on a 7-2 run to take a four-point lead, 25-21. UTD finished the quarter with a seven-point lead at the half, 30-23.
 
The Tigers cut the lead to four, 30-26, on a Dittmar free throw at 7:22 but UTD went on a 15-2 run for a 17-point lead, 45-28, at 2:46. ETBU ended the half on a 7-0 run as Dittmar had a jumper to come within 10, 45-35.
 
UTD kept their 10-point lead, 48-38, at 8:24 but four minutes later ETBU was within three, 50-47, on a 9-2 run. White hit a three-pointer at 5:23 to come within five and then Dittmar cut it to three with 4:34 left in the game. ETBU stayed within three to five points in the last two minutes and had it down to three, again, 55-52, on two Kaia Williams free throws at 1:49. UTD scored the next four points to move the lead to seven and then made it nine points, 63-54, with nine seconds left. Bridget Upton hit a three-pointer as time expired making it a six-point game, 63-57.
 
ETBU will now wait until Monday to see if they make the NCAA Division III Tournament.