UD Women's Basketball Tops Tigers on Sunday; Earn Rematch in SCAC Quarterfinals this Saturday

(Photo Courtesy of Charlie Lengal III)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Dallas women's basketball team earned a huge win on Sunday to cap the regular season at Colorado College. After falling by 26 points the night before, the Crusaders shot 45.8 percent and made 11 three-pointers to split the weekend series with a 79-61 final. UD's win dropped the Tigers (6-2, 6-2 SCAC) to the second seed after they had entered with the best record in the league.

Dallas (4-6, 4-6 SCAC) won for the fourth time in six games with wins coming on the past two road trips on the second day after a loss by a wide margin. These teams will meet again on Saturday, March 6, for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Quarterfinals. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. (MST).

Anika Herron (Coppell, Texas) led the Crusaders in scoring for consecutive days with 18 points behind 5-of-8 three-point shooting. Dallas had five players in double figures with Imani Hardin (Helotes, Texas) grabbing her first collegiate double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Beyonce Perry (Lake Jackson, Texas), Camille Fowler (Helotes, Texas), and Raylee Minich (Crowley, Texas) all had 11 points.

The Crusaders shared the ball well with 17 assists led by Fowler's five. The freshman also swiped two steals. UD as a team had all-but one player hand out a dime.

Colorado College was led by Audrey Bayston with 12 points and 10 boards. Anna Fanelli tossed in 12 points, too.

The Tigers shot 32.3 percent and made just three treys.

Dallas jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter thanks to 11-for-18 field goal shooting and 5-of-7 from downtown. Minich and Fowler were perfect with their two trifectas and Perry had one from long range too. The Crusaders scored the first nine points and were up by that amount until a free throw by the Tigers about three minutes in. Bayston made it 9-4 with a trey for the team's first field goal. With a minute left in the quarter, UD went up 24-15 and after a steal by Fowler she made the trey to cap a 27-15 first quarter lead.

CC pulled within a point (27-26) in the next quarter, but two free throws by Amber Turner (Rogers, Ark.) and a three by Herron started a 9-0 run. The Crusaders had a 10-point lead, but Emma Nawara drilled a buzzer-beating three to go into the break down 41-34.

Herron scored nine of the team's 19 points in the third quarter. Before that the Tigers had shrunk the margin to three (43-40), but Perry countered with a basket and Herron had a trio of three-pointers in a row for UD to help expand the lead to double-digits. The Tigers tried to fighting back but never saw the gap dip into single-digits again the rest of the way.

Coach Bri Calver will lead the Crusaders as the seventh seed back to Colorado Springs this week. It is the team's first tournament under Coach Calver's watch. Official Tournament Website