BOX SCORE
Austin, Texas – In a game that featured eight ties and six lead changes,
Shamika Singleton scored 28 points on 9-for-14 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds to propel the Concordia University Texas women's basketball team to a 66-61 victory over Texas-Dallas on Thursday, Jan. 6 at the Concordia Field House. Singleton scored 19 points in the second half, including seven straight down the stretch, to give the Tornados their fourth win of the year.
Singleton scored the first four points of the second half to give Concordia a 37-28 advantage, but Texas-Dallas (10-3, ASC 6-2), which was recently receiving votes in the WBCA national poll, rallied and regained the lead for the first time since the midway point of the opening frame when Tarneisha Scott converted a layup. The shot put the Comets ahead by a 41-39 score with 15:04 remaining.
Concordia fought back and tied the game at 45 when
Skylar Lott grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back in for two points. Texas-Dallas responded by scoring 10 of the next 12 nine points, beginning with a 3-pointer by Tawni Ichimura, and appeared to be in control with under seven minutes to play.
The Tornados, however, staged a furious rally and were sparked by a
Tiesha Martin layup as the shot clock expired, slicing the Comet lead to 56-54 with just over five minutes on the clock. Singleton then scored seven straight points for the Tornados over the next three minutes to put her team ahead for good. After a Scott trey made it a 61-59 affair with 59 seconds left,
Margaret Milling, Singleton and
Alex O'Neal all made free throws to put the game out of reach.
“We have been in every game except when we played Louisiana College, but tonight we found a way to win,” said head coach Rusty Rainbolt afterwards, whose team was playing an opponent with a winning record for the fifth time in six games. “Hopefully it will get us over the hump moving forward.”
After coming off the bench a few minutes into the contest, Milling racked up three quick steals and converted a conventional three-point play to give Concordia a 14-10 lead at the 12:23 mark. Texas-Dallas took a 16-15 lead on a good jumper by Ashley George, but the Tornados responded as
Lashanda Luckey scored 13 of the game's next 14 points to give the hosts a 28-17 advantage. The Comets scored the next nine points to get back in the game, sparked by 3-pointers from Lyndsey Smith and Ichimura, and only trailed by five at the break.
“Margaret played great,” offered Rainbolt. “She had six steals in the first half. As good as Lashanda played, we felt like Margaret was the one who really got us going in the first half and kept us in the game.”
In addition to Singleton, Concordia got strong contributions from Milling, Luckey and Lott. Milling had four points and a game-high seven steals, while Luckey added 13 points and five boards. Lott finished with five points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Lyndsey Smith led three Texas-Dallas players in double figures with 15 points. Scott and Ichimura posted 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Katy Spence added seven points and eight boards.
Concordia (4-6, ASC 3-4) continues its three-game homestand when it hosts Ozarks on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 1:00 p.m.
