UTPB women's basketball rallied from trailing by 12 points to lead at halftime, but UA Fort Smith took control in the second half to defeat the Falcons 96-85 Saturday afternoon in Odessa.

UTPB led early on but went cold four minutes in as the Lions scored 10 straight to lead 15-7 as part of a stretch where they out-scored the Falcons 16-2 to go on top 21-9 with 11:23 to play in the first.

The Falcons rallied when the Lions took their largest lead in the first at 28-15 and 8:18 on the clock. Myangel Johnson scored six points as UTPB got within five with over five minutes to play, and following a UA Fort Smith lay up, went on to score the next nine points, all on 3-pointers from Giselle Loya, Briana Dominguez and Valerie Barriga.

UTPB led by five at halftime, ending the first with the final five points of the half with a pair of free throws from Barriga, one at the line from TeAnna Edman-Rowe and a basket from Shaquiri Graham to lead 39-34 at the break.

The second half belonged to UA Fort Smith, as the Lions scored the first six points of the half to go back on top 40-39 and later held a 10-point lead at 63-53 with 10:30 to play.

The Falcons were able to get within a single possession on a three from Loya to trail 69-66 with 6:59 to play, but Fort Smith increased its lead back out to 14 points over the next two and a half minutes to put the game out of reach.

Barriga led UTPB across the board on the day with 21 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Graham and Loya each scored 15 points, Loya hitting five threes, and Johnson had 12 points and eight boards off the bench.

Jasmine Brainard had a game-high 27 points for UA Fort Smith to lead all players on 8-11 shooting and an 11-12 day at the free throw line.

UTPB looks to rebound from its first conference loss this week, traveling to face St. Edward's Thursday night in Austin in its only game of the next week.