Box Score STEPHENVILLE – Behind a career-high 24 points by Shanae Lowrance, Tarleton withstood a strong second-half surge to top Texas-Permian Basin 81-76 in Wisdom Gym Tuesday night.
 
The TexAnns were able to exact revenge on the Falcons, who handed Tarleton a 3-point overtime loss in Odessa earlier this season. Tarleton is now 8-2 all-time against the Falcons and 7-0 against them in Stephenville.
 
Tarleton got the scoring started with a 3-point play by Lowrance, who would go on to dominate the first half of the game with 15 points. After layups by Kiara Wright and Peyton Adamson, the TexAnns found themselves on top 7-0.
 
The Falcons clawed back to cut the TexAnn lead to just four at the 16:05 mark, but a 3-ball by Adamson started a 25-9 Tarleton run over the next 10 minutes to push the TexAnn lead to 20 at 34-14.
 
Tarleton maintained a healthy lead over the rest of the quarter – keeping their lead at 19 with 15 seconds left in the opening half – but UTPB did manage to score the final four points of the half with a layup and a buzzer-beating jumper.
 
After the first 20 minutes of action, Adamson and Lowrance had already cracked double figures in scoring with 12 and 15, respectively.
 
UTPB opened the second half with an 8-2 run to bring the Tarleton lead back to single digits at nine, but Wright – who was limited to just four minutes in the first half due to fouls – broke the streak with a layup at 17:01.
 
The Wright layup was immediately followed by a Lowrance layup and the first career 3-pointer from Morgan Ashmore to push the lead to 57-43 with 15:50 left to play.
 
UTPB cut the TexAnn lead to 13 at 60-47 with 13:31 left and then both teams went scoreless over the next 5:43 before Ashmore drained her second 3-ball of the night for Tarleton.
 
From the 14:09 mark until 6:22, Tarleton held the Falcons without a field goal for that 7:47 stretch but brought the score close with free throws before a 3-point shot in the corner made it 67-56 Tarleton.
 
The UTPB 3-ball started a 7-0 push for the Falcons which cut the TexAnn lead to the smallest of the half at 67-60 before Wright converted a layup on the other end for a 69-60 lead with 4:44 left.
 
The Falcons put together a 10-5 run for 3:23 to make it a 77-72 game with 28 seconds left.
 
After Tarleton failed to convert on a pair of free throws, UTPB drained a layup with 10.65 seconds left to cut the TexAnn lead to 77-74. The Falcons were immediately called for a foul on the inbound sending Brianna Bledsoe to the line.
 
The junior from Stephenville sank both free throws to make it 79-74. UTPB answered on the other end before fouling the reigning NCAA free throw leader, Adamson.
 
She drilled both free throws to bring the game to its final of 81-76.
 
Lowrance's 24 topped her previous high of 22, which she set in the LSC Championship semifinals against Angelo State last season. She was 10-11 from the floor and 4-9 from the free throw line.
 
Also cracking double-figures were Adamson (16), Cheyenne Berry (10) and Bledsoe (14), who recorded her second double-figure scoring effort of the season in as many games. Morgan Ashmore added a career-high eight points while Wright rounded out the scoring with nine points and seven rebounds.
 
Tarleton is off for 11 days to celebrate the Christmas holiday and will return to action Dec. 29 against Wayland Baptist at 5 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.