RICHARDSON, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs hung with the defending American Southwest Conference champion University of Texas at Dallas before ultimately taking a 69-58 road loss to the Comets on Saturday afternoon.

In the UTD Activity Center, the Bulldogs trailed by two at the half, 33-31, before falling behind by as many 17 as late as 5:30 remaining in the game. But the Bulldogs rallied to cut the deficit to eight with 1:57 to play.

Savannah Hight's (San Antonio/Brandeis) only bucket of the night, a three-pointer, capped a 9-0 run for the Bulldogs that had the UTD lead down to 61-53.

The lead for UTD dropped to seven, 63-56 with 1:03 to play, on a three-pointer from Taylor Dydalewicz (Dripping Springs/Lake Travis).

Following two free throws by UTD, Dalia Camargo (Mission/Mission) added a jumper to bring TLU within seven again. This time only 33 seconds remained.

UTD added two more free throws and a final-second lay-up to account for the final margin.

TLU dropped to 1-1 with the non-conference loss. The Bulldogs played one day after opening the season with a 85-62 road win at Dallas Christian. UTD moved to 1-0 with the home victory.

The Bulldogs and Comets were members of the American Southwest Conference up until this season, the Bulldogs' first in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Karisa Cantu (San Antonio/MacArthur) led TLU in scoring, with 17. The point guard went 5-for-9 from the field and 7-for-7 from the free throw line. She added five rebounds, an assist and two steals.

Dydalewicz chipped in 11 points and five rebounds, and freshman Kristen Lye (San Antonio/Clark) scored 10 and pulled down four rebounds.

Morgan Kilgore paced UTD with 23 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Christina Brosnahan added 14 points and three rebounds.

UTD made 45.5 percent of its shots and held TLU to 32.8 percent. The Bulldogs shot 41.7 percent in the first half but dropped to 26.5 percent in the second.

The Bulldogs made 17 of 19 at the free throw line.

TLU returns to action Tuesday with a road game against NCAA Division I opponent University of Texas-Pan American. Game time in Edinburg, Texas is set for 7 p.m.

UT-Pan American will have live video and live stats for the non-conference game. Links to the video and stats can be found at tlubulldogs.com.