TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's basketball took down #15 Lubbock Christian on Thursday night to earn their ninth straight LSC win and move to 13-6 overall and 9-1 in LSC play.
 
The Patriots earned their ninth win over a top 25 ranked program under head coach Rebecca Alvidrez in dominant fashion, leaning on a defense that held the Lady Chaps to just 28.8% from the field and 17.2% from beyond the arc.
 
Leila Davis led all scorers with a 25 point effort while tacking on 11 rebounds for her third career double-double. Polina Latysheva added 15 points, four rebounds, and four assists to back her up and help the Patriots to their best win of the season so far.
 
The Patriots would catch fire to begin the contest, shooting 56.3% in the first quarter as they leaned on 10 early points from Davis, eight straight at one point, while seeing a pair of three pointers from Latysheva and Mileina Sablinskaite. The Patriots took that offensive run to a 21-16 lead after one, capping off the frame with a running jumper from Lilli Hakkarainen that rattled home as the clock expired.
 
The worst quarter of the night for the Patriots came in the second quarter as they went just 2-for-14 from the field. They held the Lady Chaps to just 11 points in the frame, but they would take a narrow 27-25 lead into the halftime break.
 
That deficit would be erased early in the third, with Hayley Cumming getting on the board with a layup and Latysheva burying another triple to give the Patriots the three point lead. The two teams traded blows, but Latysheva would score nine straight points on her own, putting the Patriots up by three.
 
Lubbock Christian responded with their own 5-0 run to regain the lead with 2:58 remaining in the third, but again the Patriots had the answers as they started tightening the screws on defense and ended the quarter on a 5-0 run themselves. The Lady Chaps shot just 25% in that quarter, and the Patriots took a three point lead into the final frame.
 
The defense for UT Tyler showed out in the fourth quarter, holding Lubbock Christian to 2-for-15 in the period and 0-for-10 from deep. They carried over that effort on offense, shooting 62.5% from the field in the period as Davis tallied her last seven points of the night.
 
From the 2:57 mark of the third to the 2:25 mark of the fourth, the Patriots held Lubbock Christian without a field goal, going over 10 minutes of game time. The Lady Chaps scored just three free throws, while a 9-1 run over the first 6:01 of the fourth quarter all but put away the contest.
 
The Patriots defensive effort saw the Lady Chaps shoot 28.8% for the game, their lowest output of the season and lowest as a program since February 8^th, 2024 against Angelo State.
 
The Patriots forced nine turnovers and turned those into 10 points. They held a 41-30 rebound advantage and a 30-20 advantage in points in the paint.
 
UT Tyler will now hit the road to take on #6 West Texas A&M on Thursday, January 29^th and Eastern New Mexico on Saturday, January 31^st.
 
Saturday's previously scheduled game against Midwestern State has now been moved to February 9^th, which doubles as the next time the Patriots will be at home inside the HPC.