By Alan Wiederhold
Sports Information Director
LeTourneau University
RICHARDSON, Texas – The Texas-Dallas comets overcame an eight-point second-half deficit Saturday and went on to defeat the visiting LeTourneau YellowJackets 59-52.
At the UTD Activity Center, Ashley George scored a game-high 20 points and secured eight rebounds to lead the ASC East-leading Comets (15-1, 11-1) to their ninth consecutive victory.
DeShante Thomas (Tyler, Texas/Whitehouse) came off the LeTourneau bench to score a team-high 11 points for the YellowJackets (8-7), who fell to 5-7 in American Southwest Conference play.
A 6-foot-3 sophomore post, Thomas blocked three shots Saturday, giving her 100 for her collegiate career. She set the LeTourneau school record for career blocked shots Monday in the Jackets' 62-61 victory over UT Tyler.
The YellowJackets held UT-Dallas to 20 percent shooting (6 of 30) from the field in the first half as the teams went into halftime with the score tied at 22. LeTourneau players shot 35 percent (9 of 26) from the floor during the opening period.
It was the YellowJackets who struck first in the second half, scoring six of the first eight points of the period and taking a 30-24 lead on a jumper by La'Queda Davis (Houston, Texas/Waltrip) with 17:56 remaining in the game.
Davis scored nine points in the game for the YellowJackets, as did senior post Sharday Cotton (Mansfield, La./LSU-Shreveport) and sophomore guard Jessica Manas (Fort Worth, Texas/Haltom).
The Comets needed less than a minute to run off five straight points to cut LeTourneau's lead to one, but the Jackets responded with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 37-29 lead – their largest lead of the contest. Manas drained a 3-pointer with 15:50 remaining in the game to cap the LeTourneau run.
In turn, UT-Dallas responded with an 8-1 run, pulling to within one point on layup by Brittany Houston to make the score 38-37 with 13:04 left in the game. George put the Comets ahead for good with 10:27 remaining with a layup that broke a 42-42 tie.
Despite not stretching their lead to double-digits in the second half, the Comets were able to secure the win at the free throw line, as UT-Dallas players shot 71 percent (24 of 34) from the charity stripe. The Comets were 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the final three minutes of the contest.
The YellowJackets only shot 13 free throws, sinking eight of their attempts for a 62 percent showing from the line.
The loss was the second in a row for the YellowJackets, who dropped consecutive contests for the first time in nearly a month.
Andrea Ashley (Kilgore, Texas/Kilgore) and Bailey Moon (Emory, Texas/Rains) scored five points apiece for LeTourneau. Houston scored 10 points for UT-Dallas.
The Jackets open a four-game homestand on Thursday when they host Centenary College at LeTourneau's Solheim Arena, where the team is 5-1 this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.