UTPB women's basketball grabbed the lead eight different times in the first half Saturday afternoon against St. Mary's, but were out-scored 47-38 in the second half of a nine-point, 75-66 Rattlers victory.

Valerie Barriga led all players in the first 20 minutes with 12 points on a pair of 3-pointers as the Falcons held St. Mary's to 34.5 percent shooting from the field and just 1-of-9 from behind the 3-point line while hitting 45.8 percent of its own shots.

UTPB led by as many as three points on a Keyondra White triple that broke one of the seven ties of the half, but went into halftime tied at 28-28.

St. Mary's was unable to pull away in the early moments of the second half as the Falcons hung by them, scoring five straight on a Brianna Dominguez three and a Katreese Locket fast break layup off a steal to even the game at 50-50 at 8:08.

But UTPB couldn't keep the Rattlers from pulling ahead, giving up a 10-1 run that pushed St. Mary's lead out to 10 and proved to be too many points to come back from in the nine-point defeat.

Barriga recorded her second highest point total of the season in leading all players with 23 points while hitting a season-best three 3-pointers. Locket added 15 points as the only other Falcon in double figures on the day.

Bria Bell paced four Rattlers in double figures with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and a team-best eight rebounds.

UTPB is back at home in a week, hosting Lubbock Christian Saturday, January 11.