BOX SCORE BOX SCORE

PHOTO GALLERY #1

PHOTO GALLERY #2

PHOTO GALLERY #3

PHOTO GALLERY #4

PHOTO GALLERY #5

Georgetown, Texas – Domonique Liddell registered her second double-double and Brianna Smith netted a season-high 17 points, but the Concordia University Texas women's basketball team suffered a 90-86 loss to Southwestern on Saturday, Dec. 15 at the Robertson Center. The Tornados erased a double-digit deficit late in the second half and came within three points before falling just short in the non-conference affair.

Concordia netted the first six points of the game to take an early lead. Paige Parrish got the Tornados on the board by hitting one of two free throws and set up a Kaleigh Landry 3-pointer at the 17:44 mark. Southwestern, however, came back with seven unanswered in exactly one minute and took a 7-6 lead on an Annie Bourne layup.

After Voneshia Williams tied the game up at 12s, the hosts embarked on a 11-2 run to start pulling away that began with a Madison Eschle free throw. Katelyn Bartell extended the Pirate margin to double figures at 27-16 shortly before the midway point before Audrey Garcia canned a trifecta to give the hosts a 15-point cushion their largest lead of the half, with 8:53 left to play. The Tornados brought the lead down to 10 at the half and trailed 50-40 by getting an old-fashioned 3-point play from Liddell and a free throw from Jessie Pittman in the final minute.

The Tornados' Sara Byrd opened the scoring in the second half, but Southwestern (6-2) responded with consecutive 3-pointers coming from Garcia and Jordan Owens to stay in control and add to a lead it would never surrender. A Carra Sheffer then trifecta gave the Pirates their largest lead at 66-50 with 11:52 on the clock.

The Tornados, however, did not give up and came within six when Pittman nailed a shot from downtown to make it 75-69 with just over six minutes to play. After Southwestern regained a double-digit lead, the visitors still refused to go away as Smith scored six straight with under 30 seconds left by finishing a 3-point play the old-fashioned way and nailing a shot from long range to make it 88-84. Liddell made a layup to close the gap to three with just over two seconds left, but that was as close as the Tornados could come before the final buzzer.

Smith netted a team-leading 17 points for Concordia by shooting 6-for-12 from the field, including 2-for-6 from long range, and 3-for-5 from the stripe. Liddell finished with 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with three blocks, while Williams added 12 points and seven boards.

Owens led four Southwestern players in double figures by netting a game-high 20 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds. Garcia scored 16 points, which included nailing four 3-pointers, and Eschle netted 15 for the Pirates. Chelsea Leeder contributed 11 points, six assists and four steals.

Concordia (4-4) resumes American Southwest Conference play when it hosts Texas-Dallas on Thursday, Dec. 20 at 1 p.m.