UTPB women's basketball nearly came back from a 10-point deficit in the second half, but was never able to take the lead down the stretch in suffering a 72-68 road defeat Thursday night against St. Mary's in Heartland Conference action at Bill Greehey Arena.

The Falcons trailed 55-45 with 10:56 remaining in the game after St. Mary's turned around a two-point UTPB advantage by scoring 12 consecutive points.

UTPB fought back in the final minutes of the game, coming back from trailing by seven to tie the game at 1:05 on a layup from Valerie Barriga, a 3-pointer from Giselle Loya and a basket from Danielle Wilson to knot the score at 65-65. 

A bucket from Morgan Pullins put the Rattlers back in the lead by two, and she hit one on a pair of attempts at the free throw line on their next possession to lead 68-65.

Keyondra White came up big for the Falcons the next trip down the court as she hit a three with 15 seconds left to tie the game again at 68-68.

Emily Troell answered with just six seconds remaining for St. Mary's with a jumper to go back in the lead by a pair at 70-68.

UTPB had a chance to tie the game as Loya went to the line with one second remaining in the game, but she missed both and Pullins sank a pair on the other end after being fouled on the rebound to wrap up a four-point win.

Pullins led all players on the day with 28 points and 17 rebounds.

Barriga paced the Falcons with 24 points on the night, hitting 10-of-11 free throw attempts and grabbing seven boards. Loya scored 15 with four 3-pointers on the night while also getting seven rebounds and White contributed 13 points and tied Barriga with five assists.

UTPB is back in action Saturday afternoon, traveling to Texas A&M International for a 1 p.m. contest in Laredo.