RICHARDSON, Texas – The Belhaven University women's basketball team suffered a 74-54 defeat to the UT Dallas Comets on Friday afternoon in American Southwest Conference play. 

The Comets opened the game going on a 7-0 run, but the Blazers rallied back to cut the lead to just five points with 5:24 remaining in the first quarter. The Comets closed out the first quarter going on a 9-4 to make the score 19-11.  

The Blazers caught an offensive spark in the opening minutes of the second quarter by going on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to just one point at the 7:14 mark. The Comets fought back and took 10 straight points from the Blazers to extend their lead to 32-21 with 4:57 remaining in the half. The Blazers rallied to cut the lead to just two points with 2:02 remaining until the break. The Comets would take the lead going into the halftime break by a score of 38-30. 

The Green and Gold came out of halftime going on a 9-4 run, but UTD continued to shoot well from the floor to extend their lead to 17 points going into the final frame. The Comets outscored the Blazers 12-9 in the fourth quarter to seal the 74-54 victory. With the loss, the Blazers fall to 4-8 overall and 2-6 in conference play. 

Ladedra Bryant led the Blazers with 16 points, three steals, one block, five rebounds, and scored 16 points. Additionally, she shot 8-for-10 from the floor in 15 minutes of play. Janae Collier added nine points in the contest and shot 50 percent from the charity stripe. Shanda Pugh and Kourtne Lee finished the game with seven points apiece, while Ashanti Lipscomb posted four points. Sydney Martin and Destiny Johnson had a team-high eight rebounds apiece.  

The Blazers return to the court on Friday, February 13 with a matchup against the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Ark. The action is set to tip-off at 1:00 p.m. 

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