UT Permian Basin women's basketball outscored Arkansas Fort Smith in the fourth quarter, but the comeback wasn't enough as the Falcons fell to the Lions 72-59 in their first game of 2021.

In a high scoring first quarter the Falcons (1-1) were down by six with the Lions (1-4) shooting over 50 percent from the field.

Nokoia White scored five of her team high 14 points in the first quarter including scoring the first basket of the game.

In the second quarter, Alexis Popham made a pair of layups in-between a basket made by Karyssa Jackson in a span of 30 seconds to narrow the Lion lead to five with 6:35 left in the half. The Falcons would go into the locker room down by eight.

The start of the third quarter the Falcons struggled to make a basket after the opening layup by Kim Best. Jada Berry hit back-to-back threes at the end the third quarter to cut into the Lion lead heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Falcons came back on a 12-2 run in the middle of the quarter and got as close as eight, but it wasn't enough as the Falcons could not overcome the gap as they fell 72-59.

White finished with 14 points to lead the Falcons. Jada Berry had 11 points in 16 minutes of play. Alexus Quaadman led the Falcons with six rebounds and Morgan Helgesen led with three assists.

The Falcons will be back in action tomorrow as they face the Lions once again to try and even up the season series at 2 PM in the Falcon Dome.