SAN ANTONIO, Texas (February 12, 2026) – Beginning what is arguably its most important week of the regular season, The University of Texas Permian Basin women's basketball team got off to a rough start with a wire-to-wire 67-55 loss on the road at St. Mary's University on Thursday.

The game marked the end of a five-game losing streak for StMU (13-8 overall, 8-7 Lone Star Conference) against UTPB (13-10, 8-7). It was the Rattlers' first win over the Falcons since February 15, 2020, and was also the Rattlers' first win over the Falcons since StMU joined the LSC. Lastly, and most importantly, the win allowed the Rattlers to overtake the Falcons for eighth place in the LSC standings, representing the potential final LSC Playoff spot with five games remaining in the regular season.

It was a matchup between two normally strong defensive teams as the two team's combined for just one basket in the first three and a half minutes of the game. In all, the UTPB offense started 0-9 from the field and 0-for-6 from three with four turnovers in the first five minutes of the game, and trailed 11-0 to start.

Coming into the game, both teams ranked among the top-four field goal percentage defensive teams in the LSC with StMU second (.356) and UTPB fourth (.365), and both ranked among the top-50 in NCAA Division II.

The UTPB offense finally broke through by scoring its first two baskets off of back-to-back StMU turnovers, two of the Rattlers' six turnovers in the first quarter, and then closed the quarter strong as Alondra Reyes stepped up with a 3-pointer in the final 1:30 and then hit a long 2-point jumper in the final few seconds to help the Falcons pull to within 14-11 after the opening period.

Both teams made six field goals and two 3-pointers in the first quarter, although the Rattlers were much more efficient with their attempts against the Falcons' primarily zone defense, shooting 5-of-11 (45.45 percent) overall and 2-of-5 (40.00 percent) from three while UTPB shot 5-of-20 (25.0 percent) overall and was just 1-of-9 (11.11 percent) from three. StMU then opened up the second quarter by making four of its first five shots.

A personal 6-0 run by Crystal Jones got the Falcons to within two (22-20) just before the halfway point in the second quarter, but after that, UTPB was held to just one basket (1-9) and two points in the final five minutes of the second quarter as StMU built out a 31-22 advantage at halftime.

StMU shot 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) in the first half while UTPB shot just 10-of-35 (28.6 percent). The Falcons also did not attempt a free throw in the first half, and despite outrebounding the Rattlers 9-1 on the offensive glass, only led 2-1 on second chance points.

The shooting slump continued for UTPB early in the third quarter as after the Falcons scored on the opening possession, they missed their next three shots attempts to go along with a pair of turnovers. While UTPB was struggling to get good looks at the rim, Allie Garcia drained three 3-pointers in less than two minutes, the first of which gave StMU a 13-point lead (37-24) with 6:15 remaining in the third quarter. It was Garcia's 16th straight game with at least one made 3-pointer.

Back-to-back 3-pointer by the Rattlers' Andrea Montesnios and Peyton Stellato grew the lead to 17 points (51-34) with 2:18 left in the third period. Those were the seventh and eighth made 3-pointers of the game for the Rattlers, making it the fourth straight game with at least seven made threes for the Rattlers.

Both teams shot at least 50 percent both overall and from three in the third quarter, but StMU still pulled away on the scoreboard (22-15) thanks to a highly-efficient 7-for-11 (63.64 percent) mark overall and a 5-for-9 (55.56 percent) mark from three.

StMU maintained at least a 12-point lead for the entirety of the fourth quarter, and despite shooting just 30 percent (3-10) in the fourth quarter, finished the game at 50 percent (22-44) overall, the highest UTPB has allowed its opponent to shoot all season.

Jones led UTPB with 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field. She and Kenadi Rising each have five rebounds as the Falcons did hold on win the rebounding battle for the third game in a row (31-30).

UTPB also led 11-5 on the offensive glass, but second chance points were even at four apiece. Also, despite 17 turnovers for both teams, UTPB trailed by 10 (23-13) on points off turnovers.

Jones was followed in the scoring column by Madison Walters with nine points, Reyes with eight points on two 3-pointers, Ja'Nya Thomas with seven points, Waikimihia Douglas-Karauna with six points, and Jonesha Neal with five points and a game-high five assists.

UTPB will finish up its most important road trip of the season at St. Edward's University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 14 (Valentine's Day), in Austin, Texas.