ODESSA, Texas (January 30, 2025) – After a first quarter that featured seven lead changes, The University of Texas Permian Basin women's basketball team led the rest of the way and returned to Lone Star Conference West Division action with a 68-46 home victory over Western New Mexico University.

UTPB got 15 points and six rebounds from Morgan Helgesen, 14 points from Makala Bingley, eight points and four steals from Taysha Rushton, eight points and five rebounds by Kamari Portalis, and five points and seven boards from Khiara Flugence.

In addition, Avalon Munoz added six assists and eight rebounds, and with 8:15 to go in the second quarter, hit a long two-point jumper to reach the 1,000-career point mark. Munoz is also 13 steals away from passing the school record of 274 and is currently 51 assists away from the school record of 536.

UTPB Head Women's Basketball Coach Rae Boothe spoke on Munoz's accomplishment, "It was an extra special win as Av hit 1,000 points. She is everything a coach or teammate could ever ask for. We are fortunate that every one of those points has been in a UTPB uniform. She has made us better every single day over the past five seasons."

Despite shooting just 25 percent (5-20) from the field in the first quarter, the Falcons grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the opening period and turned it over just one time while forcing six turnovers by the Mustangs.

UTPB then started the second quarter on an 11-0 run and used a trio of 3-pointers (2 by Helgesen; 1 by Portalis) in the first five minutes of the period to take control.

After a 16-4 start to the period, UTPB outscored WNMU 24-8 in the decisive second quarter and outscored the Mustangs by two points in every other quarter.

In all for the first half, the Falcons led by 18 points (37-19) after a fastbreak layup by Madison Walters just before the halftime buzzer, had 14 offensive rebounds, and led 21-2 on points off turnovers after 16 Mustang giveaways.

In the end, UTPB took advantage of 16 steals on 27 Mustang turnovers and led 38-13 on points off turnovers and 23-5 on fastbreak points.

The Falcons also won the rebounding battle 42-26 and had 22 offensive rebounds, leading to a 15-8 edge on second chance points.

The 42 rebounds were the second-most in conference action this season for the Falcons while their 26 rebounds allowed were their lowest and their 16 steals were their most against a conference opponent so far.

Coach Boothe added, "I'm really proud of how well we rebounded, especially on the offensive end. We got over half of our misses back and forced 27 turnovers. Defense and rebounds are a reflection of effort and our players played hard tonight. A good goal is to take 10 more shots than our opponent, and tonight we took 22 more."

Lastly, the Falcons shot 82.4 percent (14-17) from the free throw line, putting them over 80 percent for the second game in a row after doing so just once in their previous 18 games. WNMU, conversely, was just 5-for-10 from the stripe on Thursday.

With what was its fifth-straight win both overall and on its home court against WNMU (2-18 overall, 2-12 LSC), UTPB improves to 11-9 overall and 9-5 in the LSC while also taking over sole possession of third place in the West Division standings at 5-3.

Next up, the Falcons will remain at home to host Sul Ross State University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 1.