REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands women's basketball team (2-2) came up five points short, 56-51, for the second-straight day as they lost to the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) on Saturday evening.
It was a fast start as Alex Facelo again caught fire from behind the arc as, connecting on two threes. Leila Hosn and Colbi Zorich also scored for an early 10-2 lead.
The Comets cut the lead down to one with 5:23 to play, but the defense held them to four points the rest of the way as Facelo made another three and AJ Wick got on the scoresheet to help the Bulldogs to a 16-13 lead after 10 minutes.
After a 7-0 start for UTD in the second, Redlands trailed by four, but Wick found Zorich for a jumper in the paint and Wick made a free throw to get within one.
Following a scoreless drought for both teams of more than five minutes, the Comets finished with final four points as they led 24-19 at the half.
After a lack of points in the run of play in the second, each team got to the line as the first six points came at the strip.
After a total of 17 points in the second, the two sides combined for 19 in the first six minutes. Zorich made it a two-point deficit with a pair of free throws.
Heading to the fourth it was 39-36 Comets after 19 of the 32 combined points came at the line which was needed as they shot a combined 6-for-24 from the field.
In the final quarter Facelo kept the Bulldogs alive with a pair of important, deep threes to keep Redlands within two possessions, trailing 50-46 with 3:49 to play.
A third Facelo three with 1:24 cut the lead to one. The defense followed it up with a stop, but a pair of missed threes in the final 40 seconds gave the Comets the ball up one with 34 seconds to play.
The problem for the Bulldogs was they needed to commit four fouls to put the Comets in the bonus, as they had been whistled for only one to that point. The time needed to commit the fouls took it all the way down to the six-second mark.
UTD put it away with four made free throws to ice the game.
Wick had 16 points and 16 rebounds. This is her fourth career 16 plus rebound game. Facelo had a career and game-high 18 points thanks to six made threes, tying her for the seventh most in program history.
The Bulldogs undoing was their shooting percentage as they held the Comets to 30.5 percent overall and 30 percent from three, but they managed to shoot only 31.4 percent.
Redlands will stay at home as they start Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play on Wednesday, November 20 inside Currier Gym against Pomona-Pitzer at 7:00 p.m.