UTPB women's basketball played strong defense all game, limiting Oklahoma Christian to shooting below 30 percent in each half in taking a 64-49 victory Thursday night in Heartland Conference action in Odessa, Texas.

The Falcons held OCU to 28 percent from the field in the first half and lowered the number of shots the Eagles made after halftime down to just 22 percent of all field goals attempted.

UTPB broke away from what had been a close game as Valerie Barriga hit a pair of free throws on two straight trips down the court to break a tie and go on top 18-14. 

Danielle Wilson put back an offensive rebound the next time down the court to build the advantage out to six, and added a point at the line to lead 21-14. She added a pair of free throws a minute later after grabbing another offensive board to put UTPB in the lead 23-16 with 8:25 to play in the first.

Oklahoma Christian cut the advantage down to a single point two different times in the remainder of the first, but 
an 8-to-4 finish to the half behind a 3-pointer from Giselle Loya and a four-point play on a made three followed by a free throw after being fouled on the basket by Brianna Jones put UTPB ahead 34-29 at the break.

Another three from Loya at 16:15 of the second half put the Falcons on top to tie their game high lead of nine points at 41-32. UTPB later built its lead higher on a pair of layups from Wilson and Jones to go on top by 12. 

Oklahoma Christian was able to tighten the game up with seven straight to trail 50-46 with over five minutes to play, but the Falcons rebounded to score the next seven points to put the game out of reach at 57-46 with just two minutes to play in the eventual 15 point win.

Barriga tied for the game lead with 15 points to go with seven rebounds on the night while the Falcons got 12 points and seven boards from WIlson. Keyondra White added nine points to go with a game-high five assists.

McKenzie Stanford led the Eagles with 15 points on the night, and Roz Hamilton led all players in the game with 16 total rebounds.

UTPB returns to action in a week, traveling to San Antonio, Texas, for a Feb. 13 game at 5:30 p.m. at St. Mary's.