FRISCO, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's basketball put together a brilliant effort on Saturday night inside the Comerica Center against West Texas A&M, but the Lady Buffs narrowly closed out the game down the stretch in the semifinal matchup.
 
Hayley Cumming and Leila Davis had 18 points each, combining for five rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. Polina Latysheva added 11 points to the tally, along with seven rebounds, two assists, and four steals. As a team, the Patriots shot 40.7% from the field and held the Lady Buffs to 38% for the game.
 
UT Tyler in the first quarter came out strong, hitting nine of their first 16 shots as five different players got into the scoring column. After not scoring over the first 2:18, the Patriots got hot with a 10-4 run to answer an early three pointer from West Texas A&M. They would close the frame on a 6-for-6 run from the field, with Hayley Cumming either scoring or assisting on the last four as they took a 20-17 lead after the first quarter.
 
The Patriots offense went cold in the second, shooting just 3-for-11 with no player making more than one field goal. They made just one field goal over the final five minutes of the half as Latysheva dropped in a perfect floater in the lane to narrowly beat the buzzer. On defense, they held the Lady Buffs to just 35.7%, but they went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line to carry a slim 30-27 lead into halftime.  
 
Coming out of the break, UT Tyler caught fire with what would be their best quarter of the night. After a Lady Buffs layup to begin the period, the Patriots went on a 13-0 run over 5:05 of gametime beginning at the 9:23 mark. In that run, they forced seven West Texas A&M turnovers and turned those into 11 points as they took a 43-39 lead.
 
In the final 4:07, the Lady Buffs would outscore UT Tyler 7-2, including dropping in their own buzzer beating layup to take a one point lead into the final quarter of the night.
 
Leila Davis dropped in a free throw and Cumming added a layup to push the Patriots back in front by two less than a minute into the fourth quarter. West Texas A&M followed with a 9-0 run, taking a seven point advantage with 4:27 remaining as the Patriots offense struggled.
 
UT Tyler battled back with their own 7-2 run to cut the lead all the way down to just two with 3:20 left. The Lady Buffs again came up with a big run, going back up by eight with 29 seconds left.
 
After a shooting foul on Davis, she went 1-for-2 from the line. The ensuing Lady Buffs possession saw them miss both free throws, and then Cumming would draw a foul to shoot her own shots from the line. She made the first and missed the second, but a perfect bounce went right to Mileina Sablinskaite, who dished it back to Cumming for a big three pointer to cut the lead to three with 13 seconds left.
 
West Texas A&M would go 1-for-2 on their next trip at the line, and UT Tyler would come up empty on their possession, effectively ending the Patriots chances and leading to a final score of 67-61.
 
UT Tyler forced 16 turnovers and scored 17 points from those, and also held a 34-20 advantage in points in the paint.
 
The Patriots will now set their sights on the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. CT, where they will learn their NCAA Tournament fate. That show can be found HERE and also at NCAA.com.