Box Score Box Score
So much for preseason rankings.
 
The Louisiana College women's basketball team, picked to finish fifth in the American Southwest Conference preseason poll, did just about everything right in the pivotal second half to defeat the University of Texas-Dallas, 70-65, Tuesday night in a game played at LSU of Alexandria.
 
The Comets, who suffered their first loss of the season to fall to 3-1 overall, had been tabbed the No. 2 team in the ASC in that same preseason poll. But, they couldn't overcome the hot play of the Wildcats in the second half as LC improved to 2-0 on the season, 1-0 in the ASC.
 
After trailing 40-38 at halftime, the Wildcats caught fire early in the second half. Keyed by a Danisha Allison 3-point shot, LC used a 9-2 run in the first five minutes to take a 47-42 lead with 15:17 to play.
 
The Wildcats found their offensive rhythm in the new system of first-year coach Patrece Spivey and used a suffocating defense to up that lead to 54-45 with less than 12 minutes in the game.
 
For the next eight minutes, the Wildcats kept themselves in the lead by double digits as they were keyed by veteran players like Allision, who finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds, and Kaci Willis, whose 3-point shot with just under four minutes to play gave the Cats their largest lead of the game at 13. Willis finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Comets would make one final charge as they cut the lead to just five, 70-65, with 1:36, but UTD would get no closer as the Wildcats were able to run out the clock with their final possessions.
 
Allison and Willis were joined in double figures by fellow senior Karylon Thornton, who had 10 points off the bench. Neka Jones added 7 points and 7 assists. Among LC's younger players, sophomore Karli West made a major contribution with 8 points, including 2 of 4 from 3-point range.
 
The Wildcats, who were known to take as many as 100 shots in games their past few seasons under former head coach Jason Tinsley, scaled that number way down in this game – hitting 26 of 59 for 44-percent, including 6-of-18 from 3-point range and 12 for 16 at the free throw line.  But the key defensively was the second half when the Wildcats limited UTD to just 11 of 32 shots and just 40-percent (25 of 62) for the game. The Comets also struggled from 3-point territory as they made just 5 of 22 overall (23-percent), including an ice cold 1 of 10 in the second half.
 
UT-Dallas was led by Madi Hess' 16 points, thought the Wildcats limited her to just 4 in the second half. Nicolette Erkman had 12 and Amber Brown 11 for the Comets.