ODESSA, Texas (February 19, 2026) – Playing in a must-win game for the second game in a row, The University of Texas Permian Basin women's basketball team again rose to the challenge, earning a wire-to-wire 83-66 victory over Midwestern State University inside the Falcon Dome.

Hoping to maintain the momentum it captured with two wins during its recent homestand last week, Midwestern State (7-16 overall, 4-13 Lone Star Conference) had no such luck this time around as the Falcons outscored the Mustangs 22-9 in the first quarter and never looked back. In the first matchup this season between the two teams in December in Wichita Falls, Texas, the Falcons outscored the Mustangs 22-7 in the first quarter.

UTPB (15-10, 10-7), meanwhile, had won its last two home games and was coming off a 69-57 win at St. Edward's University last Saturday, which was the 100th win for Rae Boothe as the head coach at UTPB.

February marks crunch time in LSC basketball, and with just two weeks — and now only three games — remaining in the regular season following Thursday's matchup against MSU, the Falcons are giving themselves a fighting chance. UTPB has moved into sole possession of seventh place in the conference standings, marking the second time this season the team has climbed to three games above .500 in league play.

UTPB once again featured a balanced attack, with no player scoring more than 15 points and 14 Falcons entering the scoring column.

Madison Walters led the scoring for UTPB, contributing 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including two 3-pointers, and adding five rebounds and two steals.

Kenadi Rising totaled 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Mikalah Buckley scored 12 points off the bench. Eight of UTPB's first 12 points of the game came courtesy of Rising. Buckley, meanwhile, shot 5-for-10 from the field and led the Falcons on the offensive glass with four offensive rebounds.

Jonesha Neal stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Waikimihia Douglas-Karauna added six points and matched Rising with a team-high seven boards.

UTPB started the game leading 17-4 after a fastbreak layup by Buckley with 3:45 left in the first quarter, and opened up a 22-point lead (34-22) following a steal and a fastbreak layup by Neal just under four minutes into the second quarter.

UTPB maintained a 15-to-24 point advantage the rest of the way.

MSU cut its deficit to 17 points twice in the third quarter, and never got any closer until the final 30 seconds of the game.

MSU got off to a just a 2-for-10 start (20.0 percent) offensively while UTPB started 7-for-17 (41.2 percent).

The Falcons made it a priority to attack the boards early and often. At the end of the first quarter, UTPB had tripled up MSU on the boards (18-6 overall) and led 9-1 on the offensive glass, leading to an 11-0 score on second chance points.

UTPB was even hotter to start the second quarter, making six of its first eight shots (75.0 percent) while holding the Mustangs to 2-for-7 (28.6 percent). The Falcons finished the second quarter shooting over 55 percent (8-14, 57.14 percent) while MSU made just four field goals for the second quarter in a row.

10 of the Falcons' first 15 points in the second quarter came in the paint, and in all UTPB outscored MSU 14-2 in the paint in the second quarter and 26-10 in the paint in the first half.

UTPB also continued to dominate the boards, leading by 20 overall (31-11) and by 10 (12-2) on the offensive glass and maintaining a 16-1 scoring margin on second chance points at halftime.

UTPB was outscored in both the third and four quarters, but it came with no consequence as the Falcons matched their season-high scoring total and set new season-highs in rebounds (54) and assists (21). The Falcons finished with 21 assists on 33 made field goals. The Falcons also grabbed 23 offensive rebounds for the second time in the last four games.

The UTPB defense, meanwhile, limited a MSU team that came into the game attempting the third-most free throws in the conference with 23.3 per game, which was also the 13th-most in the country, to just six attempts.

Coach Boothe spoke after the Falcons kept their postseason hopes alive, saying "This was a great team win with great scoring and rebounding balance. Credit to Midwestern, they played hard and fought well, especially in the second half. This game was probably our best rebounding game. To score 28 points off second chances is a great stat that shows how resilient our team is. I am proud of our team. Now it is time to get ready for a tough LCU team on Saturday."

UTPB will now take on No. 23 Lubbock Christian University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 21, during the Falcons' Senior Day. After the game the Falcons will honor their seniors.