Box Score WICHITA FALLS – Tarleton dropped its first conference game of the season Saturday evening in a heartbreaking overtime thriller, 78-71 against Midwestern State at D. L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
Tarleton (10-3, 6-1) is now 1-2 this season in overtime games and 10-14 all-time in games requiring an extra period of play.
 
The Mustangs (11-3, 6-2) began the overtime period with a 6-2 run over the first 1:57 to lead 71-67 before Kiara Wright hit a free throw to make it a one possession game at 71-68. Tarleton added another free throw on their next possession to make it 71:69 with 2:30 left.
 
Midwestern added two more free throws to lead 73-69 before Cheyenne Berry drove the length of the court for a layup – and the last TexAnn points – as the Mustangs went on to score the final five points of the game to come out on top.
 
Prior to the overtime period, however, the TexAnns fought through much adversity to put themselves in a position to win the game. Tarleton rallied back from a 10-point deficit, foul trouble and injury to take the game down to the wire.
 
Following a furious late-game rally from 10-points down, Midwestern State connected on a baseline jumper with 34 seconds left to take a 65-63 lead.
 
On the ensuing TexAnn possession, Tarleton went 1-2 from the free throw to trail 65-64 with just over 30 seconds left.
 
Tarleton forced a Midwestern miss on the other end and Berry drew a foul on the rebound to give the TexAnns a pair of free throws. The junior guard went 1-2 but tied the game at 65-65 by draining her first shot to send the game into overtime.
 
The teams opened the second half of play in a tight battle, as Tarleton – who trailed 38-36 at halftime – opened the second half by outscoring Midwestern State 8-6 over the first 5:05 to bring the game to a 44-44 tie.
 
For the next 6:53, however, the TexAnns went cold from the floor scoring just five points while Midwestern was able to put 15 on their side of the scoreboard to push its lead to a game-high 10 at 59-49.
 
After a media timeout at 7:34, the TexAnns ended the drought when Brianna Bledsoe got to the rack for a layup that started a 7-0 Tarleton run to bring the TexAnns back within three at 59-56 with 5:25 left to play. The run was capped off by a 3-point play from Berry.
 
After a layup by MSU pushed the Mustang lead back to five, Peyton Adamson drilled a deep 3-ball with a hand in her face to bring the TexAnns within two at 61-59 with 3:28 left to play. After an MSU miss, Berry tied the game with a jumper from the left elbow leading to the final minute of action.
 
Over the final 8:02 of the second half, Midwestern State was 2-7 shooting from the floor, 2-4 from the free throw line and committed five turnovers.
 
Midwestern jumped out to an early 4-1 lead before Tarleton was finally able to string together five quick points on an Adamson layup and a Wright 3-point play to take its first lead of the day at 6-4 with 17:35 left.
 
Neither team was able to pull away in the first half of play as Tarleton pushed its lead to as many as three points on several different occasions while Midwestern led by five on a couple different occasions – the last one at the 9:26 mark in the opening half.
 
With the Mustangs leading 21-16 with 9:26 left in the opening 20, Adamson started and finished a 15-4 Tarleton run - that began with a pair of free throws and ended with a 3-ball at 4:24 - to give the TexAnns their biggest lead of the game at 31-25.
 
MSU answered with eight unanswered points to retake the lead 33-31 before a Morgan Ashmore 3-ball put Tarleton on top by one. The teams traded a pair of points before Midwestern drilled a deep 3-pointer with one second left to take a 38-36 lead into halftime.
 
Wright set a career-high in rebounds for Tarleton with the first 20-rebound game of her career. She has recorded double-figure rebounds in every game of her career against Midwestern State, including an 18-rebound effort last season.
 
This performance gives her 605 rebounds in her career and puts her 10th on the all-time list after passing Karen Hula. She is 17 rebounds shy of passing Ronda Edwards for ninth place all-time.
 
Wright also had 16 points on the day for the ninth double-double of the season and the 22^nd of her career. Adamson led the team with 22 points while Bledsoe and Berry each added 10.
 
The TexAnns will wrap up their brief two-game road trip by visiting Eastern New Mexico Wednesday night for a 6:30 p.m. match-up from Greyhound Arena.