TYLER, TEXAS – A late rally from Oklahoma Christian closed the game and eventually tied the game, but a foul with just 0.6 seconds on the clock allowed (RV) UT Tyler to knock down a pair of free throws and take the contest by a score of 67-65.
 
The win moves the Patriots to 12-3 on the year and 6-0 in LSC play. They have now won 21 consecutive home games, still tied for the second longest streak in NCAA Division II. That win also moves their winning streak to 10 consecutive games, the longest such streak of the Rebecca Alvidrez era.
 
An Eagles three pointer followed by a Brooklyn Palmer and-one marked the first minute of action, and the teams would battle to a 9-5 lead from the Eagles with 5:50 remaining in the quarter.
 
That lead quickly evaporated, as the Patriots marched on an 8-2 run to take a 13-11 lead at the 2:31 mark of the quarter. That run snowballed into a 22-5 run that lasted all the way to the 6:28 mark of the second quarter as the Patriots scorched the net to take the big lead.
 
In that run alone, the Patriots went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc with all four makes coming from a different player. As a team they went 8-for-15 and made both free throws as Tina Machalova got herself rolling with seven points in the run. On defense, the Patriots forced the Eagles into a 1-for-12 slump, including an 0-for-5 stretch from deep.
 
Despite the big Patriots run, the Eagles would respond with their own 19-9 run to close out the first half down 36-30 and remain close. They shot 4-for-10 from the field but made nine of their 10 free throw attempts and forced the Patriots into eight turnovers during the stretch.
 
With all of the high flying scoring of the first half, the third period saw both teams slow down offensively as they combined to shoot just 8-for-26 and 0-for-9 from beyond the arc. The Patriots would hold the one point advantage for the quarter, and hold a seven point lead at 47-40 with just 10 minutes remaining.
 
Meagan Mendazona kicked off the fourth quarter with a layup to move the lead to nine, but two straight Eagles three pointers cut the lead down to just three with 7:07 remaining. The two teams would trade triples again, as Machalova scored five straight Patriots points to keep the Patriots up five.
 
Another layup and a free throw moved the lead up to seven points with 3:19 remaining, but the Eagles cut into the lead again with a clutch layup. Another layup moved the lead to just three points with 2:13 remaining. The Eagles onslaught continued with another layup to cut the lead to two just 24 seconds later, and they eventually tied the game with 1:14 remaining on a pair of free throws.
 
Tina Machalova answered the bell in a big way with a clutch jumper with 47 ticks left on the clock, and Ella Bradley came up huge with her own layup at the 19 second mark to put the Patriots up four. Two free throws from the Eagles cut the lead back down, but Machalova moved it back to four points with 11 seconds left.
 
On the ensuing inbound, the Eagles banked in a huge triple to cut the lead down to one point, and the Patriots went 1-for-2 from the line on the foul to stay up two points with six seconds remaining. The Eagles called their final timeout, and drew up a good inbounds play to tie the game with just over a second remaining.
 
On the inbounds play, the Patriots passed it in to Mendazona, but the Eagles fouled her on the play with 0.6 seconds left to send her to the free throw line. There, she iced the game with two makes and ensured the Patriots win.
 
Tina Machalova led all scorers with 19 points, as she finished 7-for-12 on the night. She also collected a game-high nine rebounds and dished out two assists.
 
Ella Bradley and Brooklyn Palmer had 11 and 10 points, respectively, joining Machalova in double figures.
 
Montse Gutierrez filled up the stat sheet with five points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block.
 
The Patriots as a team held the Eagles to 37.5% from the field and 32.1% from beyond the arc while shooting 48.9% from the field and 42.9% from three. They also held the rebounding advantage at 33-29 and bench points at 22-14.
 
Next up for (RV) UT Tyler will be UAFS as they look to continue their winning ways. That contest is scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m. on Saturday inside the Herrington Patriot Center.