Box Score

The University of Texas of the Permian Basin women's basketball team left the gym Thursday night holding a share of first place in the Heartland Conference, winning its seventh straight after holding a lead for more than 38 of 40 minutes in a 68-60 defeat of St. Mary's at the Falcon Dome in Odessa, Texas. 

The Falcons opened the game with a sign of what was to come, hitting 3-pointers on its first two possessions by Teisha King and Taniqua Ards to lead 6-0 in the first minute and a half.

UTPB (13-5, 6-1 HC) gave up six points in a row halfway through the first in trailing for the first time in the game at 19-18. The Falcons took the lead for the final time on a 3-pointer by Jocelyn Cook to put them ahead 23-21, and UTPB rallied to outscore the Rattlers 8-3 over the remainder of the first as they ended the half with a layup from Cook as time expired to take a 31-24 advantage into the break.

The Falcons stayed hot after halftime, hitting four free throws and shots by Cook and King to run ahead with a 39-28 lead.

UTPB led by as many as 13 points later in the half as a Zeslie Johnson 3-pointer with 8:51 put the team in the drivers' seat up 50-37.

St. Mary's (14-5, 6-1) didn't go down without a fight, keeping UTPB within range before starting to cut down into the lead with a four-point run to bring the Rattlers to within six at 56-50 with 4:30 remaining.

Brianna Dominguez gave the Falcons some breathing room with a three on the team's next possession, but five-point run by the visitors closed the gap to four with3:38 left. 

After the teams traded field goals, Giselle Loya forced a steal with 2:13 remaining and sunk a three after corralling possession off of a diving Clarissa Davis rebound into out-of-bounds territory that helped put UTPB into the clear as the lead led by at least six points the remaining 1:42 in avenging its first and only loss in conference play, a74-63 defeat to St. Mary's, at the beginning of the month in San Antonio, Texas.

King led the Falcons with 28 points, her ninth time scoring at least 20 points this season and third in a row, on 9-15 shooting from the floor with a perfect 8-8 mark from the line while also recording a season-best three blocks. Johnson added nine points with eight coming from Cook, and Ards led the Falcons with nine rebounds and four assists.

UTPB hit 64 percent of its attempts from long range, its best of the season, in hitting 9-14 from behind the arc, the second most by the team this year.

Felicia Jacobs paced the Rattlers with 17 points and was backed up on offense by Jackie Woods who scored 16 on the night.

UTPB returns to the court at home this weekend, hosting Texas A&M International Saturday, Feb. 2, at 2 p.m.