RICHARDSON, Texas â€" Texas Lutheran battled back from a 12-point second-half deficit against Texas-Dallas in its season opener, taking a one-point lead with a minute to play. But the Bulldogs couldn't hold on, falling 58-55 on the road.
 
The Bulldogs were trailing by six with 4:09 to play in the game. A little more than three minutes later, they had gained the lead on a Kristen Lye layup with 1:03 left.
 
The Comets earned a pair of free throws on their next possession, making both to retake the lead. After a missed shot from TLU, the Comets made two more freebies to stretch the lead to three.
 
Lye had a chance to tie it after the Bulldogs got the ball back with four seconds to play, but her buzzer-beating 3-pointer went astray, sending the Bulldogs home with a tough season-opening loss.
 
Lye (San Antonio, Texas) played a huge role in Texas Lutheran's second-half comeback, scoring 12 of her game-high 19 points in the final 20 minutes. She finished the game with those 19 points to go along with four rebounds and two blocks. She shot 7-of-15 from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
 
Three different Bulldogs finished with double-digit scoring. Taylor Dydalewicz (Dripping Springs, Texas) tallied 14 points and five rebounds, and Karisa Cantu (San Antonio, Texas) scored 10 to go along with five assists and four rebounds.
 
Early-season nerves were evident for both squads in the early going, with the two teams combining for two made field goals in the first seven minutes.
 
Texas Lutheran opened up what turned out to be its biggest lead of the game after a pair of Lye free throws made it 13-9 with 10:41 to play in the first half.
 
Texas-Dallas responded with a 10-2 run, taking a 19-15 lead with 6:58 to go in the first half. The Bulldogs kept the deficit hovering between one and five for most of the remainder of the half.
 
The big blow came when the Comets, closed the half on a 7-0 run. The Bulldogs went into the locker room trailing 35-25, having shot 24 percent from the field.
 
The Comets scored the first bucket of the second half, making it nine straight points, but that's when the Bulldogs began to chip away. Trailing by 12 with 17:28 to play, TLU rattled off 11 straight points to close the gap to just one with 10:36 left.
 
Any time a team holds its opponent without a point for nearly seven minutes, its defense is doing something right. The Bulldogs forced six turnovers and held the Comets to 0-of-8 shooting during that stretch.
 
The Comets stretched the lead back out to six with a little more than four minutes to go before the Bulldogs' furious comeback.
 
The offense was clicking in the second half for TLU. The Bulldogs shot 39 percent from the field and assisted on seven of their 11 made baskets in that final 20 minutes of action.
 
Texas Lutheran will play its home opener against Concordia-Texas at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Live video and live stats will be available via tlubulldogs.com.