COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Dallas women's basketball team concluded the 2018 season with a 63-57 setback at Colorado College. The Crusaders started strong with an 18-9 lead through the first quarter and would be up eight at halftime.
However, late in the third it was the Tigers that shifted the momentum with a 13-0 run over two minutes to grab a 49-43 lead going into the final period. That frame ended up being a 25-11 scoring difference favoring Colorado College.
Dallas fell to 9-16 overall and will be 3-11 a third consecutive year in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) play. The Tigers also finish the regular season at 9-16 and improve to 6-8 in the conference for the fourth seed at the tournament hosted at Reid Arena next weekend.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Crusaders took an 8-3 lead through the midway point of the first quarter. After allowing four points, the road team extended the lead back to six with a layup by Helen Onyenso (Oak Park, Ill.) and three-pointer by Madilyne Borjon (San Antonio, Texas). Michelle DeCoud (Monument, Colo.) came up with a block on the defensive side of the ball between those two field goals.
The same scoring tandem hit the same type of field goals again in the last minute to hold an 18-9 lead through the first horn. DeCoud, Borjon, and Onyenso were responsible for all of Dallas' points at that juncture. UD benefitted from eight second chance points to none by the home team.
UD's offense remained strong in the second half. A couple trifectas by DeCoud and Celsi Caraway (Arlington, Texas) maintained the edge just beneath double-digits. A trey by Casey Torbet made it a 26-21 deficit for the Tigers. Borjon – who was 3-for-3 in the game – made her third field goal with a minute and a half before intermission. Another triple by the Tigers cut the margin back to five, but Caraway buried a three in the last ticks on the clock to send the Crusaders to the locker room up 32-24.
Caraway made her third trey early in the third to push the Dallas lead back to nine, which tied the largest of the game a couple occasions. Panda Green (Farmersville, Texas) was good on two free throws to reflect a 41-34 advantage with 3:46 to go in the third.
13 straight points helped the Tigers surge ahead and never relinquish the lead. Jade Odem connected on the go-ahead three to make it 43-41. After another basket by Odem, Vanessa Diaz dropped a jumper to end the run. Four more points in the last minute ended the game-changing third, which was aided by an 11-0 edge on points off turnovers for CC.
Dallas trailed as many as eight in the last quarter, but made an effort to slice the gap in half with four minutes left. Onyenso and Diaz each had layups, and then Caraway snatched a steal on the next possession. However, the Crusaders three-point look was off and then Torbet made a trey to extend the lead back. DeCoud had UD's final points on a pair of layups, and the Tigers were able to hit enough free throws to hold the lead.
STATISTICAL NOTABLES
DeCoud paced the Crusaders with 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Caraway contributed 13 points. Onyenso totaled nine points and boards. Green delivered five assists.
The Crusaders shot a 36.7 field goal percentage and had one more made three-pointer (7-6) in the same amount of attempts (20) as Colorado College. Dallas held a 14-8 edge in second chance points and did commit two fewer turnovers 17-15 despite being outscored 19-12. UD was also edged 39-33 on rebounds, but did better on the offensive boards 11-8.
Colorado College shot 33 percent in the 20 minutes, but an 11-for-18 (61.1%) third propelled the team to a 44.6-clip in the game. The Tigers outscored UD 30-26 on points in the paint and 10-0 on fastbreak points.
Torbet led all individual scorers with 20 points, which included 3-for-5 from long range. Odem and Nia Duplain added 14 and 10 points, respectively. McKenzee Gertz neared a double-double with nine points and game-high 12 boards. Duplain tied a game-high five assists.
TIP-INS
- DeCoud ends her career with 134 blocks (1st), 544 field goals (2nd), 844 rebounds (2nd), and 1,337 points (5th) to notch top-five places in the all-time program records.
- The Crusaders seven 3-pointers matched the second highest total a third time – including consecutive games. It was one away from the season-most.
- Onyenso hustled for more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds a ninth time this season. She finished second on the team in total boards, but led with 93 on the offensive glass.
- Diaz reached 100 rebounds for the season, and gives UD a quartet of players above that mark.