GEORGETOWN, Texas – A 22-3 run over the final 8:13 of the third quarter was enough to turn a Southwestern University women's basketball team lead into a huge deficit as the Pirates lost at home to UT Dallas 68-52 om Friday afternoon.
Southwestern's Ellie Ward drained a three with 8:36 left in the third quarter to put the Pirates (7-5) up 34-29.
The huge run for the Comets (7-5) began on the next trip down the court when Jordan Maxwell knocked down both free throws to bring her team to within 34-31.
Both teams traded possessions over the next minute and a half before UTD tied the score at 34-34 on a Kaylee Boykin three,
From then on, it was all UTD as the Comets were able to get into their patented full-court pressure defense giving the Pirates all kinds of trouble getting the ball up the court.
Southwestern would, unfortunately, be stuck on 34 points until Jay Hollie made one of two free throw attempts with 2:03 left in the third quarter ending a 6:33 drought.
Ward added another basket with 1:30 to go in the stanza to bring the Pirates to within 46-37, but Southwestern wouldn't get any closer the rest of the game.
The lack of points in the second half should not overshadow the brilliant first half that both Aniyah Burke and Reece Sandercock shared in keeping the Pirates on the positive side of the point differential for most of the first half.
Burke tallied 10 of her 12 in the first half while Sandercock nearly had a double-double in the first 20 minutes of the game going for 13 points and eight rebounds.
Sandercock would end up earning that double-double with a pair of rebounds in the second half as she finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Burke would end the game with 12 points, five rebounds and a pair of steals.
Southwestern may have committed just two more turnovers that UTD, but the Comets were able to tally a higher points-off-turnovers margin at 27-11.
The bench for UTD also played a vital role giving the Comets 42 points compared to just 12 from the Pirates.
UP NEXT
The loss to UTD can and will be used as learning material as the Pirates are now solely focused in on play within the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference as UTD was the final non-conference matchup of the regular season.
The Pirates will return to SCAC play with a home contest inside the Robertson Center on Tuesday, Jan. 3, when Texas Lutheran comes to town for a 5:30 p.m. CST tipoff.
