Box Score
The 2013-14 season is over for the Louisiana College women's basketball team, and it ended in all too familiar fashion.
 
The Wildcats were done in by a combination of poor 3-point shooting, a key scoreless stretch in the first half, and a major discrepancy in fouls in a 74-65 loss to the No. 1 seed, Texas-Tyler, Saturday in the semi-finals of the American Southwest Conference women's basketball tournament.
 
LC, which entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed and knocked off No. 4 seed Howard Payne Friday, knew that it needed to win all three games of the tournament in order to secure a return to the NCAA Div. III Tournament, but as they had done much of the season, the Wildcats saw their offense run cold at times and completely struggle from 3-point range. LC made just 6-of-29 from beyond the arc.
 
Complicating matters in this game for LC was a decided disadvantage in fouls calls and free throws. The Wildcats were whistled for 36 personal fouls to 17 for the Patriots. That translated into Tyler hitting 30-of-45 free throws to just 11-of-17 for LC. The Wildcats saw three players, Karylon Thornton, Danisha Allison and Kaci Willis, foul out and three more, Shelby Stewart, Neka Jones and Skylar Chenevert finish with four. By comparison, Texas-Tyler had just one player foul out and only one more finish with as many as three personal fouls.
 
Even so, what proved to be the deciding sequence in the game came in the first half. The Wildcats jumped to a quick 5-0 lead only to see the Patriots respond with a 19-2 run over the next four minutes. LC coach Jason Tinsley called for a timeout with 11:40 to play in the first half after a Tasmin Baskin layup gave UTT a 19-7 lead.
 
The Patriots continued to build that lead for the rest of the half behind Madison Wilson's 13 points and Brittany King's 10 points and 10 rebounds. Wilson's steal and layup that resulted in a three-point play with 3:51 put Tyler up 37-20. The Patriots led 43-28 at halftime as the Wildcats shot just 10-of-32 and only 1-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half.
 
In the second half, Texas-Tyler continued to hold its double-digit lead as the Wildcats continue to get deeper into foul trouble. When LC freshman Karli West hit consecutive 3-point shots, the Wildcats closed to within 12 points, 61-49, with 6:34 to play.
 
Three minutes later, two more 3-pointers – from Neka Jones and Natosha Morvant but the Tyler lead to eight points, 67-55, with 3:28 to play. When Jones hit another three with 3:15 left, LC had closed to within nine, but forced to foul, the Wildcats could get no closer than eight as the Patriots hit six free throws in the final two minutes to seal the win.
 
With the win, Texas Tyler, now 24-3 will face Mary Hardin-Baylor in Sunday's ASC championship game. The Patriots were led by Wilson's 19 points and six assists and King's 14 points and 18 rebounds.
 
The Wildcats finished the season a disappointing 16-11 and will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five seasons. LC did not have anyone hit double digits in scoring. Stewart, Morvant and LaToya Evans each had nine.
 
If there is a silver lining for Tinsley's squad, it is the fact the Wildcats had no seniors on this year's roster and will return a full team of players with one more year's experience.