The University of Texas of the Permian Basin women's basketball led by as many as 13 points in the first half of its season opener Friday night, but went into halftime tied with Southeastern Oklahoma State and were out-scored by three in the second half in a 78-75 loss to kick off the 2013-14 season in Wichita Falls, Texas.
The Falcons led by double digits six and a half minutes into the game, scoring 10 straight capped with a 3-pointer by
Brianna Dominguez and a basket by
Zeslie Johnson to take a 23-10 lead at 12:10 of the first.
Southeast needed little time to cut into the UTPB advantage, erasing the Falcons lead down to a one possession game with a 9-0 run with buckets on four straight possessions.
UTPB lost possession of the lead and trailed by as many as five late in the half, but rebounded to tie the game with the final four points of the first on a shot by Johnson and a layup as time expired by
Valerie Barriga to even the game at 44-44.
Points were harder to come by in second half for UTPB as the Falcons fell behind by four in the first minute and a half and trailed by seven 56-49 five mintues in.
Katreese Locket pulled them back, scoring five straight and converting an and-one at 11:55 to even the game at 56-56 and a basket by Locket a minute and a half later put them back in the lead 58-56.
That proved to be the Falcons final lead of the game as Southeast went ahead 60-58 at 9:36 of the second and never fell behind the rest of the way.
UTPB kept the game within two possessions the remainder of the second half and had chances to take the lead in the final minute as a Barriga layup with 1:07 on the clock left it trailing by one, but the Falcons missed their final three shots to end the game in the three-point loss.
Barriga led all scorers on the night with 29 points, hitting 6-of-12 from the field and 15-of-18 from the free throw line while grabbing a team high seven rebounds. Locket added 13 points off the bench as the Falcons only other scorer to reach double figures.
Emily Williams paced Southeast with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Falcons are back in action Saturday night in Wichita Falls, facing Southern Nazarene at 6 p.m.
