The UT Tyler women's basketball team made a little history Tuesday night.
Appearing in the NCAA Division II postseason in their first year of eligibility, the No. 7 seeded Patriots won a 55–38 win over No. 10 Midwestern State in a first-round game of the Lone Star Conference tournament at the Harrington Patriot Center.
Next up for UT Tyler (18-8) is a trip to the LSC quarterfinals where the Patriots will take on Texas Women's University for the third time this season. Pioneers hold the number 2 seed and the competition will take place at 2:30 pm. Inside the Comerica Center in Frisco on Friday.
MSU ends its season at 14-13. UT Tyler defeated Midwestern State three times this season.
The Patriots men also made history by qualifying in their first year of eligibility. However, UT Tyler had to hit the road to Wichita Falls, which fell to Patriots Midwestern State 66–62 as the Mustangs scored the last seven points of the game.
No. 11 UT Tyler Men end their season at 16-10. The No. 16 Mustangs (15-14) will play No. 3 seed Dallas Baptist University in Frisco on Thursday afternoon.
In Tyler, first-year coach Rebecca Alvidrez's Patriots defended hard, shooting the Mustangs 21% and catching 2 of 22 by 3-points (9%).
Destiny Whitehead led UT Tyler with 17 points. She is followed by Martina Machalova in second place with 16 points. Leah Davis had a double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The Patriots were 2 out of 10 from 3-point and 13 out of 16 from the free throw line. Mustangs made 8 out of 14 free throws.
Francis King and Hannah Reynolds lead MSU with 10–10 points. Reynolds added 14 rebounds for a double and Morgan Lennon had 10 boards.
dl In the Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls, MSU won.
Two free throws and a bucket by Micah Fuller gave the Patriots a 62-59 lead with 1:29 on the clock in the second half.
But Luke Hamilton's 3-pointer tied the game 62-62 at 1:15 and the Mustangs took a 64-62 lead in 17 seconds over a lay-up by Terrell Wilson. Pierre Sanders stole the ball with a performance of four seconds and was fouled where he converted two free throws for the final score.
Fuller led the Patriots with 23 points, followed by Eason Wiley (10). Kyle Frillo had seven rebounds and Dazon Wyche had four assists.
Wilson led MSU with 20 points while Hamilton had 15 points. Jalin Brown had seven rebounds.
UT Tyler was 6 out of 21 and 6 out of 9 from 3-point at the free throw line. MSU was 9 out of 24 from long distance and 9 out of 11 at Charity Stripe.