CANYON, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's basketball dropped just their second game in Lone Star Conference play on the season after a 70-51 decision on the road Thursday night against #6 West Texas A&M.
The loss snaps a nine game winning streak in LSC play and a seven game winning streak overall. This loss also doubles as the first loss in the 2026 calendar year for the Patriots.
Both teams got out to strong starts and were tied at eight points each after the first 4:07 of play as
Polina Latysheva,
Leila Davis, and
Hayley Cumming each got on the board for the Patriots. Davis kept things going with a jumper and a free throw to make it 11-11 with 5:00 to play in the first, but a quick 9-0 run that evolved into an 11-3 run to close the quarter gave the Lady Buffs a 22-14 lead.
UT Tyler again battled back, ripping off a 7-0 run behind five points from Davis and a layup from
Mileina Sablinskaite to cut the lead all the way down to 22-21. That run would be short lived however, as the Lady Buffs caught fire again, going on an 18-5 run to close the half out and build out a 14 point advantage.
The Patriots slowly began to dig themselves out of the deficit in the third period, outscoring the Lady Buffs 16-12 behind seven points from Davis and six more from Cumming. The Patriots defense began to come alive late in the period, holding them to just two points over the last 4:07 of the frame.
The Patriots got a layup from Sablinskaite with 9:24 remaining to cut the lead down to 10, but that would be as close as the Patriots got over the remainder of the contest as the Lady Buffs shot 70% as a team in the period and closed out their 70-51 win.
Leila Davis scored 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting in the contest and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. She added in eight rebounds and two steals.
Hayley Cumming scored 11 points on the night with three three pointers made. She added in an assist, two rebounds, and two steals.
UT Tyler gets the chance to bounce back on Saturday afternoon as they head to Portales, New Mexico to take on Eastern New Mexico. That game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. CT start.
