Despite a defensive effort that forced 24 turnovers, the UT – Permian Basin women's basketball team fell to Tarleton State 58-45 in Odessa.

Khali Pippins-Tryon led the way for the Falcons with 17 points while Kayla Bretherton and Jackie Perez each grabbed six rebounds.

The Falcons got out to a fast start scoring the first seven points of the game forcing three early turnovers.  The lead dwindled as the struggled from the field only shooting 3-14.  Tarleton State was able to stretch the lead to 19-9 early in the second quarter before the Falcons came back to make it a 23-22 game heading into half-time.  Sierra LaGrande connected on back to back three-pointers as part of an 8-0 in that stretch.

A Bretherton jumper gave the Falcons the lead early in the third quarter where the teams traded buckets until 5:22 when a Mackenzie Hailey jumper put Tarleton up for good.  While the Falcons kept it close in the third quarter, TSU was able to pull away in the fourth outscoring the Falcons 21-11.

The Falcon's defense held Tarleton to 41.2 percent shooting from the field and just 17.6 percent from three-point range but the offense couldn't follow suit shooting just 25.9 percent for the game.

At least six Falcons had four or more rebounds in the game and out rebounded Tarleton 36-35.  LaGrande added nine points hitting three three-pointers.

McKinley Bostad led the way for Tarleton with 17 points while Katie Webster had 14 points with nine rebounds and Hailey added 14 points with eight rebounds.

The Falcons play both games at home next week taking on Western New Mexico on Thursday and Eastern New Mexico on Saturday.