Box Score
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin nearly overcame a 19-point deficit early on Tuesday night, rallying to pull within three points of tying the score late in the game, but the Falcons ran out of time in an 81-76 defeat against Tarleton State at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville, Texas.
The first half belonged to the TexAnns as TSU jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of action.
Tarleton State led by double digits for the final 10 minutes of the first half, leading by as many as 19 points three different times.
UTPB (6-4) was able to grab four points back on consecutive shots as the half ended as
Teisha King hit a layup with eight second left in the first half and
Jocelyn Cook stole possession and hit a shot as time expired to go into halftime trailing 48-33.
An 8-2 run coming out of the intermission pulled the Falcons within nine points at 50-41 with nearly 18 minutes remaining in the game. Tarleton responded by stretching its lead back out to 17 points, but UTPB kept fighting and closed to within seven points with 4:27 remaining on back-to-back scores by King.
She scored the team's final 10 points of the game, hitting a shot with 25 seconds left to close the gap to five and a layup with 11 seconds left to make the game a one-possession contest.
TSU (6-2) matched the Falcons with a pair of free throws to push its lead back out to five .King hit her 13th field goal of the game with five seconds on the clock to bring the game back to a three point margin, but Tarleton State closed out the game with two more successful free throw attempts to wrap up the five-point game.
King led all players in the game with 35 points, hitting 13-of-22 shot attempts from the field and 9-of-10 free throws. The Heartland Conference leading scorer increased her scoring average to 21.6 points per game through 10 games. She scored a season-high 40 points earlier this season in an 82-79 overtime victory at home against Tarleton State when the TexAnns were ranked 21st in the country.
Taniqua Ards added 15 points, hitting 5-of-8 of her shots and 5-of-6 attempts from the line as the Falcons outscored Tarleton 43-33 in the second half.
Shanae Lowrance led Tarleton with 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting as TSU shot over 64 percent in the first half.
The Falcons are off for over two weeks, returning to action in the new year in a 5:30 Heartland contest Jan. 3 at Saint Mary's.
