FRISCO, Texas (March 6, 2025) – After giving the Pioneers a battle in a six-point loss in the regular season less than two weeks ago, The UT Permian Basin women's basketball team showed a similar tenacity and fight in the first half on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament. In the end, however, the eighth-seeded Falcons fell 69-51 against top-seeded and No. 1 nationally-ranked Texas Woman's University in a rematch of the 2024 LSC Tournament Championship game.

UTPB fell behind 8-0, missed its first four shots of the game and turned it over twice before a 3-pointer by Morgan Helgesen got the Falcons on the board four minutes in.

UTPB trailed by just two points (13-11) after a layup by Makala Bingley with a minute and a half left in the first quarter, but then trailed 18-11 heading into the second quarter after a buzzer-beating second-chance layup by TWU to end the opening period.

UTPB then opened the second quarter with a layup by Khiara Flugence and a jumper by Taysha Rushton on its first two possessions of the period to pull to within three points (18-15).

Flugence was a force early in the game, converting on her fourth layup of the game to pull the Falcons to within two (22-20). On the following Falcons' possession, Rushton sized up her defender and sank her first 3-pointer of the game to give UTPB the lead (23-22) just over four minutes into the second quarter.

A minute and a half later, the third 3-pointer of the game by Helgesen made it 26-22 Falcons. It was an 11-0 run for the Falcons, who started the second quarter by making six of their first nine shots from the field and three of their first four 3-pointers, all while holding TWU to 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-4 from three in the first six minutes of the period.

The fifth layup of the first half by Flugence made it a 15-2 UTPB run and a six-point lead (30-24) in the final two and a half minutes of the first half, and then a free throw by Flugence in the final minute made it a 31-29 Falcons' lead at halftime.

UTPB finished the second quarter shooting 50 percent (8-16) from the field while holding TWU to a 3-for-14 (21.4 percent) mark.

The Falcons did a great job of denying four-time First-Team All-LSC forward Ashley Ingram in the first half, holding her scoreless for the first eight and a half minutes of the game and holding her to without a field goal until the first possession of the second half. Ingram followed her first basket of the game with an and-one on the next Pioneers' possession to give TWU the lead back (34-31), and then she began to feel it and drove in for another layup to make it 36-31 just under two minutes into the second half.

Flugence stopped the 7-0 Pioneers' run to start the second half with a layup, taking advantage of Ingram's absence in the paint, but then Ingram got the Falcons back with a "Euro step" for a layup before assisting on a 3-pointer by fellow first-team all-conference selection Scout Huffman and then converting a fastbreak layup to make it 42-33 TWU halfway through the third quarter.

Ingram scored 11 points in the first five minutes of the second half, leading to a 13-2 scoring advantage for the Pioneers. UTPB was just 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-3 from three to open the second half while TWU made six of its first 11 field goal attempts.

The Falcons came out of the third-quarter media timeout with a 3-pointer by Rushton, making it a six-point game (42-36) with three and a half minutes left in the period, but TWU still outscored UTPB 17-5 to start the third quarter, turning a two-point halftime deficit into a 10-point lead (46-36) with three minutes left in the period.

The story of this game was the third-quarter blitz by the Pioneers as UTPB was outscored 30-11 and allowed TWU to shoot 60 percent (12-20) from the field.

After outscoring its first half point total in the third quarter, TWU was able to coast to the win in the fourth quarter, holding the Falcons to just nine points. After scoring just one point in the first half, Ingram scored nine straight points to open the third quarter, had 11 points overall in the third period, and finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals while notching her 14th double-double of the season.

Both teams came into the game averaging 67.9 points per game, but while both teams ranked in the top-four in the LSC in offense, the Pioneers also ranked high in defense. TWU entered the contest ranking first in the LSC and fourth in Division II in defense, holding their opponents to just 50.7 points per game. TWU was also holding their opponents to shooting 34.3 percent from the field, which ranked second in the LSC and eighth in Division II, and those numbers were close to what the Falcons got on Thursday as UTPB scored 51 points and shot 37 percent from the field. It was UTPB's second-lowest point total of the season and was the 25th game this season the Pioneers have held their opponent to 55 points or less.

UTPB shot better both from the field and from three on Thursday that it did in the first meeting this season between the two teams, but the biggest disparity between the two games was free throws as the Falcons were 25-for-27 in the first matchup but just 3-for-6 from the line tonight.

TWU also dominated the boards, coming into the game leading the conference in rebounding margin (+7.4) and outrebounding UTPB by 15 boards (45-30) overall and 14-5 on the offensive glass. That led to a 13-3 advantage on second chance points. The Pioneers also led 40-16 on points in the paint, 14-9 on points off turnovers, and 25-2 on bench points.

After leading 5-0 on steals and 5-0 on fastbreak points in the first half, UTPB was held to zero steals and zero fastbreak points in the second half while surrendering seven fastbreak points to the Pioneers.

One Falcon who came to play in a big way was Helgesen, who scored 20 points for the second game in a row, made six of her eight 3-point attempts, and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds. UTPB ranked second in the LSC in 3-pointers made per game during the regular season (7.9), and was able to get there with eight made threes on Thursday night.

Flugence, who was named third-team all-conference this season, scored 11 of her 14 points in the first half and finished with six rebounds while also shooting 6-for-11 from the field and making six of her final eight shots. With two offensive rebounds, Flugence became the second player in the LSC this season with 100 offensive rebounds, finishing with 101.

Rushton, the 2025 LSC Newcomer of the Year and a First-Team All-LSC selection, was the third Falcon in double figures in scoring, finishing with 12 points and six assists. Unfortunately, nobody else on the team scored more than two points.

Avalon Munoz, an LSC All-Defensive Team selection this season, finished with six assists, two steals and one blocked shot in her final game as a Falcon. Munoz is UTPB's all-time leader in minutes played while Helgesen is second, and Helgesen is the Falcons' career leader in games played while Munoz is second. Munoz finishes her career just two steals away from passing the school record of 274 steals and was just 12 assists away from overtaking the school record of 536 assists.

UTPB finishes its 2024-25 season 13-16 overall and 11-11 in the Lone Star Conference, but still qualified for the LSC tournament for the second year in a row and the second time in school history. This season saw the Falcons win their second-most LSC games in a season (11) and earn their second-highest finish in the LSC regular-season standings (8th place). TWU, the 2024 national runner-up, earned its 23rd straight win and improved to 29-1 on the season.