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STEPHENVILLE – Three different post players for Tarleton scored in double digits, helping the TexAnns to a 79-41 victory over visiting Texas Wesleyan Saturday night at Wisdom Gym.
JoAnne Jones led all scorers with 19 points and Brittnie Haley followed with 13 points. Kelsey Benford added 10 points as well coming off the bench for the TexAnns.
The win gives the TexAnns an 11-1 record for just the third time in school history, while the loss drops the Lady Rams to 5-5.
The TexAnns opened the scoring with a lay-up from Jones with just 21 seconds gone in the period and then with 18:45 on the clock, she made another basket inside the paint to give Tarleton a quick 4-0 lead. A jumper from Sonya Sundberg with 18:04 left put the TexAnns up 6-2, but the Lady Rams countered with a three-point play from Brittany Lewis to cut the lead to 6-5.
TWU tied the game 9-9 on a jumper from Andria Mitchell with 15:03 remaining before Tarleton could retake the lead 11-9 on Brittnie Haley's lay-up with 14:06 left in the half. TWU then tied the game again and continued with a 6-0 run to put the Lady Rams up 15-11 with 12:17 on the clock.
Whatever was said during the next media timeout worked for the TexAnns as Tarleton went on a 17-0 run to go up 28-15 and didn't allow the visiting team to score a bucket over the next eight minutes. TWU's next basket came with 4:24 left to play, but they managed to make just one more score over the last four minutes and the TexAnns ended the half on a 30-4 run and took a 46-19 lead into the locker room.
Tarleton shot just 26 percent from the floor over the first eight minutes of the game, but managed to end the first-half shooting over 43 percent from the field. TWU shot 40 percent from the floor, but Tarleton took 19 more shots than TWU did, large in part to the Lady Rams' 19 turnovers.
The TexAnns took a 30-point lead (61-31) with 12:04 remaining in the game on a lay-up from Benford. Tarleton later increased their lead to 37 (71-34) with 6:19 left to play on a lay-up from Haley. The TexAnns closed out the game outscoring the Lady Rams just 8-7, but ended up with the 79-41 victory.
In addition to Haley's 13 points, the junior forward grabbed 12 rebounds as well for her third double-double of the season. Shelby Adamson led the TexAnns with four assists and Sundberg led the team making 2-of-5 form beyond the three-point line. Tara Towns added five points for the TexAnns off the bench and provided a spark on defense, collecting three steals on the night.
The TexAnns will return to the court this Thursday, Jan. 7 on the road at Texas Woman's. Tip-off in Denton is set for 7 p.m.
