SMU’s Brittany Gilliam sets up to score against UCF in a Feb. 1 game at Moody Coliseum. (Christina Parrish)

The SMU Mustangs live to see another day.

In the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., the Mustangs defeated the UCF Golden Knights 78-59.

After a rough start that saw the Mustangs down 30-26 at halftime, SMU stepped it up in the second half, outscoring UCF by 25 points.

Janielle Dodds led the Mustangs in scoring with 24 points and fell two rebounds shy of a double-double, finishing the game with eight rebounds.

Helping add to the SMU points total was Katy Cobb, who scored 16 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor, and Jillian Samuels, who scored 10 points and went 2-3 from the three-point line.

The Mustangs shot 47 percent as a team – 13 percent higher than the Golden Knights.

SMU also got to the free-throw line seven more times than UCF and went 10-15 in those attempts.

Elbie Gates led the Mustangs with nine rebounds. SMU outrebounded the Golden Knights 43-41.

Delishia Wills fouled out of the game scoring eight points, grabbing three rebounds and adding one assist.

Brittany Gilliam led the Mustangs with four assists in 23 minutes of play.

The Mustangs scored 17 points on 20 UCF turnovers, and the Golden Knights scored just 11 points off 16 SMU turnovers.

The Mustangs will face the No. 3 seed East Carolina Pirates tonight at 8:30 p.m. If SMU wins that game, they play on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against the winner between Tulsa and UAB. A win in that game would place the Mustangs in the championship game on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.