- Box Score
STEPHENVILLE – Junior Jenna Harris had a career-high 16 points Monday as she helped the Tarleton TexAnns to a 77-64 Lone Star Conference crossover win at home against Texas A&M-Commerce.
Harris was six-of-seven from the floor in the victory as she helped the TexAnns to their fifth straight win to improve to 10-1 on the season.
“Jenna had a great night, and it is good to see a great kid like Jenna have a great game like that,” said Tarleton head coach Ronnie Hearne. “The thing about Jenna is she always works hard in practice and is dedicated to working on her game.”
Tarleton committed 14 turnovers and forced 23 by TAMUC, but the TexAnns still came out on top despite the errors.
“This was an ugly game, and we weren't as focused as we should have been,” Hearne said. “However, it was a win, and we will take it and get ready to play at UCO on Thursday.”
After falling behind 2-0 on the first basket of the game, the TexAnns tied the score on a Brittnie Haley layup prior to Morgan Stehling making back-to-back threes to push the lead to 8-2 with 16:24 on the clock. Mattilyn McIntyre ended the scoring drought for the Lions at 15:36 with a three, but the TexAnns scored the next 10 points with layups from Haley, Shelby Adamson, Kelsey Benford and Kiara Wright. Tarleton led 18-5 with 11:39 remaining in the first half.
The two teams traded points as the lead stayed around 10 points, though the Lions cut the lead to eight on two occasions. Tarleton led by 11 (31-20) with 5:32 on the clock after a Harris old-fashioned three-point play, before Bianca Stevenson traded a basket with two Adamson free throws. The Lions then scored the next six points to cut the lead to five with 2:20 on the clock (33-28).
Stehling found Harris for a layup before Harris then got a fastbreak jumper with an assist by Adamson. After a McIntyre free throw, Adamson had two of her own to return the lead to double digits. With eight ticks left in the period, Benford got a putback to give the TexAnns a 41-29 lead at the break.
Stehling opened the second half with a jumper followed by a Sundberg fastbreak layup after a pass from Haley. Haley then found Adamson on a back-door shot to increase the lead to 18 (47-29) with 17:03 remaining in the contest. Sundberg added to the score with a layup followed by two Adamson free throws that pushed the lead to 22 (51-29) at 15:13.
McIntyre and Dixon scored layups for the Lions, but free throws by Stehling and Haley was followed by a Benford layup. The two teams traded points prior to run by the Lions that cut the lead to 15 (59-44) with 10:12 on the clock. Tarleton then scored seven of the next eight points to make it 66-45 with 8:58 remaining in the game. Stevenson had two free throws at 7:01 to cut the lead to 19, but Harris had a three-point play the hard way with a putback and a free throw almost a minute later. Tarleton led 69-47.
A three by Anisha Ingram at 5:14 and a free throw by the Lion at 4:31 cut the lead to 19, but Harris had two free throws for her final points of the game nine seconds later. Tara Towns and Ingram traded buckets. With Tarleton leading 75-54, Kourtney Briscoe-Adams had back-to-back rainbow threes to cut the lead to 15 before Ambigail Leaupepe-Tele had a free throw. Crystal Atwood had a fastbreak layup after a Towns' block on the opposite end, but Brisoce-Adams hit a three with 0.8 seconds remaining to give the game its final total as Tarleton won 77-64.
Also averaging in double digits was Haley with 12 and Adamson with 10. Haley led the team with nine rebounds as the TexAnns were outrebounded 45-44 thought they outscored the Lions 42-18 in the paint, 22-5 on second chance points and 27-14 off of turnovers.
Tarleton averaged .400 from the floor (28-70), .154 from the arc (4-26) and .567 from the charity stripe (17-30).
TAMUC was led by McIntyre with 18 points and Briscoe-Adams with 13. McIntyre and Tiffany Mitchell had seven rebounds each to lead the squad.
The Lions averaged .382 from the field (21-55), .400 from the arc (6-15) and .533 form the line (16-30).
The TexAnns will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 6 at Central Oklahoma. Tip-off for the TexAnns' second of five games in nine days is set for 6 p.m. in Edmond, Okla.
