UTPB women's basketball got a hot start out of halftime, outscoring Angelo State 32-11 in the third quarter on its way to an 80-74 win over the Belles Thursday night in Odessa.

Trailing 35-32 after the first half, UTPB scored 15 straight points to turn a 40-37 Angelo State lead into a 52-40 Falcon advantage. Niniva Taito and Shanna Taylor hit threes on back to back possessions to go ahead 45-50, and Taylor scored a three point play on a breakaway. Kayla White and Taylor each hit baskets off of steals on the next two positions for a 12 point lead.

Elisa Gonzalez scored the last four points of the quarter at the line for UTPB to lead 64-46 after 30 minutes of action.

The big lead came in handy when Angelo State scored the first nine points in just two minutes to start the fourth quarter and trail 64-55. 

The Falcons answered two times with threes from Taito and Jau'nae Peevy to go back ahead by double digits each time.

Angelo State hit a pair of threes itself on consecutive possessions later in the quarter to get within seven points and later scored seven straight points to get within a possession on a Brea Mitchell basket to trail 76-74 with 53 seconds remaining.

Peevy made it a four point game six seconds later with a layup, and Angelo State missed four straight shot attempts on the same possession in its last attempt to pull closer.

Taylor and Khadijah Vigil each led the Falcons with 17 points, both coming up big for UTPB in separate halves. Vigil scored 13 points with eight rebounds inside in the first half and ended the game with 13 rebounds, and Taylor scored 11 points with three assists in the second half. Peevy added 11 points and Elisa Gonzales scored 10.

The Falcons jump in to Heartland Conference play this weekend, hosting Newman Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in its final home game of 2015.