The University of Texas of the Permian Basin women's basketball team held off a late comeback in the second half Thursday night against Arkansas-Fort Smith, scoring the game's' final nine points in a 60-51 victory in Fort Smith, Ark.

The Falcons never trailed in the first half and led 35-23 at halftime thanks to the hot hand of Giselle Loya . She hit 5-of-7 attempts from deep in the first to lead the Falcons with 15 points. Teisha King dished out five assists in the first 20 minutes, and the Falcons as a team dominated on the glass with a 21-10 rebounding advantage.

UTPB (16-5, 9-1 HC) kept the lead large in the second half, leading by 16 on a 3-pointer by Brianna Dominguez that put the Falcons up 51-35 with 11:55 to play. The offense went cold after that basket though, as UAFS kept the Falcons scoreless for over eight minutes and completely erased the advantage with a 16-0 run  that  was capped by a Katie Benamor layup at 5:23 to tie the game at 51-51.

The Falcons were able to reverse the scoring discrepancy the rest of the way, taking the lead back on a Clarissa Davis layup that keyed a run of baskets on four consecutive possessions to wrap up the nine-point victory.

Loya led all players on the night, ending the game with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range and 7-of-12 shooting from the field. King added 11 points to go with eight assists and Taniqua Ards grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds as UTPB held a 46-27 rebounding advantage while adding eight points.

UTPB heads to Wichita, Kan,, this weekend, looking for its 11th straight win with a 2 p.m. game against Newman.