The 50th anniversary of The University of Texas Permian Basin has been one to remember. From Fiona becoming a new mascot, to the new Falcon sculpture being unveiled, and athletics having the most success in University history — there's never been a better time to be a Falcon! 

Some of the highlights include: the football team winning their first-ever Lone Star Conference Championship, the men's tennis team sending a doubles team to the ITA Regionals, men's golf having the number one ranked golfer in Sangha Park, men's diver Matthew Lenzo  qualifying for NCAA Championships on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards and now the women's basketball team is headed to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament for the third time in program history.  

"We are looking forward to playing someone we haven't gone up against in our conference," said Head Women's Basketball Coach Rae Boothe on how she felt about being the number 4 seed. "There are a lot of teams in the region tournament we have faced in the Lone Star Conference in the last two weeks, so we are excited to have a new opponent." 

The matchup the Falcons will have in round one won't just be a new opponent, but one UTPB has never faced before — Adams State University.  

"They are athletic, they switch everything, and they are a guard heavy team. I think to our offensive advantage, we could do well inside," said coach Boothe. "But they're really athletic and they get after it on the defensive end. They can play; all their players step back threes, and they get up and guard you tightly." 

If the Falcons win the game on Friday, they will be back on the court on Saturday facing the winner of Texas Woman's and Colorado School of Mines.  

"Our focus is going to be on us and Adams State. I won't even look at our next opponent until we know who our next opponent is, if we have one," said Boothe. "We have to put everything we've got into Adams State, and it's going to be about how we take care of our bodies this week to be at our best come Friday at tip-off." 

The Falcons will face Adams State at 7:30 p.m. on Friday (Mar. 15), in Denton, Texas at the Kitty Magee Arena.  

Falcons make history at LSC tournament 

Prior to the Falcons earning the number 4 seed in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, they made it to the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament as the number 3 seed — something that had never been done in program history.  

"It was a great tournament. The experience was fantastic. The Lone Star Conference does it right... great banquet, every game, the organization, it was just perfect. It just allowed us to really focus on the game and our team and getting us as ready as possible," said Boothe. "Thankfully, we were there for a bit and able to play three games. Overall, it was a great tournament. It was really great for our team to go there, never having been there before, and to win a couple of games. Of course, we would have liked to win the last one, but I'm really proud of our girls and how hard they played." 

In the quarterfinals the Falcons took down Angelo State 71-51—avenging a 65-78 loss the Falcons suffered to the Rambelles the week before. They followed up that win with a 70-68 victory in the semifinals over number 2 UT Tyler, who defeated the Falcons 74-57 on Thursday, February 22. In the Championship game, the Falcons faced number 1 seed Texas Woman's — who is the number 1 seed in the South Central Region and number 9 in the nation. The Falcons fought hard but ultimately fell 60-70.  

It was a successful tournament for the Falcons who went into the tournament as the number 8 team in the South Central Region. Going in, they knew they would have to win at least one game to give themselves a shot at making the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament. 

If you can't make it the game on Friday, the NCAA has released an official "NCAA Championships Pass" app with every game streaming live on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Google TV—fans can search "NCAA Championships Pass" on those platforms, download the app, and log in with their NCAA Championships Pass Hudl account to watch on their TV's.