Over the last two seasons, things have looked bright for the UT Permian Basin women's basketball program.

From having a historic 2023-24 season where the Falcons set a program record for most wins in a season (24), most Lone Star Conference wins (17), the highest regular-season finish in LSC history (third place), made its first appearance in the LSC Tournament since joining the league in 2016, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history and the first time since 2013.

To this season where the Falcons found a way to win key games down the stretch – something they failed to do in years prior – to earn their second consecutive appearance in the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament, a feat that hadn't been achieved before.

"This team is very different than last year's team. Last year we had, basically our whole team back from the previous year that learned a lot of lessons and had gone through missing the tournament. You know, one, two, three times, by a single game and so that group was very motivated by the lessons that they learned and the heartbreak that they experienced," said Head Coach Rae Boothe. "This team, we didn't have the luxury of having everybody on our roster be a returner that has had to face that adversity together. So really, for us to be able to do it, I'm really proud of our girls. Returners, transfers, freshmen, everybody contributed to make sure that we were in."

While the Falcons didn't end the regular season the way they wanted too, the adversity the team has had to face this season has led to them learning many valuable lessons.

"I feel like our teams learned a lot this year. One of the big things that we learned is, like in a game, staying composed and staying together. At the end of the day, we're the ones on the court. Coach Rae can give us all the tools that we need, help prepare us. But at the end of the day, we're on the court and so, we have to fight the battle for us," said Forward Morgan Helgesen. "A couple games we let up in one of the quarters and we normally play like three out of the four quarters, our best. And so, staying consistent for the whole 40 minutes is something that I feel like our team has really taken a while to learn, but I feel like we're there. We're ready to put it all together and battle."

The No. 8-seeded Falcons will have a battle on their hands tomorrow (Thursday, March 6), when they step on the court in the Comerica Center, as they will face the No. 1 nationally-ranked team in all of NCAA Division II women's basketball and No. 1 seed in the LSC Championship Tournament, Texas Woman's University.

"It doesn't really matter our seed, we're going to go there and play the best basketball we can play and hopefully make a run," said guard Taysha Rushton. "We're not going to lay down for anybody. We're going to go out there and play our basketball and hopefully come out with three wins."

The Falcons head into Thursday's game hungry to prove that they are better than the No. 8 seed and get a little revenge on The Pioneers who defeated them two weeks ago (Feb. 22) 62-56 on senior night.

"That's kind of the team we wanted to come in start off with. This the biggest game. I mean, it's win or go home. This is the goal we've been working towards to get to the tournament.," said guard Avalon Munoz. "We're going to try to make sure that this isn't my last game, but, you know, we're going to go in there with a fight to win and, you know, continue and maybe do what we did last year."
  In the last matchup between UTPB and TWU, Taysha Rushton would score 20 points within the first 24 minutes of the game and finished the contest with 23 points after shooting 12-for-13 from the free throw line. It was her seventh game in a row with 21 or more points. Despite a slow start, the Falcons held the lead twice in the first quarter, outscored the Pioneers 19-11 in the third quarter, and trailed by three (48-45) after a 3-pointer by Makala Bingley in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. UTPB trailed 53-30 after a layup by Khiara Flugence and saw Kamari Portalis, Natalie Milwood and Rushton all go 2-for-2 at the free throw line to make it 60-56 with under a minute remaining. However, an offensive rebound by the Pioneers with under 20 seconds left served as the back breaker for the Falcons. In the end, the Falcons finished with their second-highest free throw percentage of the season, going 25-for-27 (92.6 percent) from the stripe.

In the win, the Pioneers held the Falcons to 56 points – their third lowest point total of the season. It marked the 20th straight game TWU has held their opponent to 56 or fewer points. TWU forced the Falcons to turn the ball over 16 times for 17 Pioneers' points. The Pioneers once again locked down on defense, as they held UTPB to their lowest field goal percentage of the season, 25.5 percent, and second-lowest 3-point percentage of the season, 18.5 percent. In the second quarter, TWU held the Falcons to just seven points, marking the 27th quarter this season the Pioneers have held their opponent to under 10 points in a quarter and seventh straight game holding their opponent to at least one quarter of less than 10 points.

Additionally, last season the Falcons beat Texas Woman's 51-47 in Denton and then lost to the Pioneers 60-70 in the Lone Star Conference Championship game.

The eighth seeded UTPB Falcons will battle against the top-seed in the tournament and the No. 1 nationally-ranked team in all of NCAA Division II women's basketball, Texas Woman's University. The Falcons and the Pioneers will square off starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 6.

The quarterfinal winners advance to the Saturday (March 8) semifinal games at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The LSC Tournament Championship game is scheduled Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. (March 9). The winner of the LSC Tournament earns the LSC automatic qualifying berth in the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship.
 

2025 Lone Star Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
March 6, 8, 9, 2025 | Frisco, Texas (Comerica Center)
 
Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 6
Tournament Session One
[3] UT Tyler (25-3) vs. [6] Texas A&M-Kingsville (17-11), 12 p.m. CT
[2] Lubbock Christian (27-3) vs [7] West Texas A&M (18-11), 2:30 p.m. CT
 
Tournament Session Two
[1] Texas Woman's (28-1) vs. [8] UT Permian Basin (13-15), 6 p.m. CT
[4] Eastern New Mexico (20-8) vs. [5] Angelo State (17-11), 8:30 p.m. CT
 
Semifinals: Saturday, March 8
Tournament Session Five
Winner (1/8) vs. Winner (4/5), 12 p.m. CT
Winner (2/7) vs. Winner (3/6), 2:30 p.m. CT
 
Championship: Sunday, March 9
Tournament Session Seven
Semifinal Winners, 1 p.m. CT *
 
*Daylight Saving Time resumes March 9