Box Score PORTALES, NM – Tarleton was able to avoid déjà vu Wednesday night as they rallied back from a double-figure second-half deficit to take the lead and secure it down the stretch for a 63-61 victory over Eastern New Mexico at Greyhound Arena.
 
“When you lose a game like the one we lost Saturday, you should be able to learn from it,” said Tarleton head coach Ronnie Hearne. “Tonight, we were 19-22 from the free throw line and had several players come up big for us.
 
“Kiara (Wright) and Cheyenne (Berry) both had big games for us,” he continued. “Also, Erin (Sims) had a big night for us. She hasn't really got a lot of playing time so far this season and we needed her tonight and she played 24 minutes and scored seven points. I thought she handled herself very well.”
 
For the second time in as many games, the Tarleton TexAnns found themselves tied in the final minute of the game after rallying from a 10-point second-half deficit.
 
In a 60-60 tie with 54 seconds left, Cheyenne Berry hit a pair of free throws to take a 62-60 lead before ENMU went to the charity stripe on the ensuing possession and only converted 1-2 to put the TexAnns up 62-61 with 34 seconds left.
 
Berry was fouled on the next possession and went 1-2 from the stripe to put Tarleton up 64-62 with just 14 seconds left to play.
 
The Zias got the ball on their side of the court and called a timeout, bringing the game down to one possession with 9.1 ticks on the clock.
 
The Zias tried to squeeze a past into the paint, but Kiara Wright swiped the pass and threw the ball ahead to Erin Sims to seal the victory.
 
In the second half, Eastern New Mexico pushed its lead to a game-high 10 with 13:12 left to play, but Sims hit a layup at the 1:45 mark to start an 8-0 TexAnn run that was capped off by another Sims layup with 10:01 left to play and the TexAnns down 44-42.
 
With Eastern New Mexico leading 48-45 and 8:03 on the clock, Berry found a wide-open Peyton Adamson on the left wing for a 3-pointer to tie the game for the first time since the 9:18 mark of the first half.
 
The Adamson 3-ball started an 8-2 TexAnn run over the next 3:52 to push the TexAnn lead to 56-53. Over that stretch, Tarleton held ENMU, who was shooting 50 percent from the floor in the first half, to just 1-8 shooting.
 
ENMU pulled within two before Wright hit a layup to make it 58-54 Tarleton with 2:42 left. After that TexAnn score, ENMU went on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 60-60 with 54 seconds left.
 
A tough offensive start and a hot-shooting Zia team forced the TexAnns to rally from the opening half of action.
 
After Tarleton jumped out to a 10-5 lead over the first 4:11, the Zias struck for an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the night at 13-12 with 11:25 left in the first half.
 
The TexAnns were able to knot the score on three different occasions, with the last being at 17-17, but Eastern New Mexico outscored Tarleton 7-2 over the next three minutes to take a 24-19 lead.
 
Tarleton got to within three at 24-21, but Eastern New Mexico pushed its lead to as many as nine and went into halftime trailing 30-23.
 
In the all-time series history, Tarleton improves to 25-12 over the Zias and 10-7 all-time in Portales. This is also the 14^th time in the 33-year series history for the contest to decided by single digits and it is the closest decision since Tarleton won 63-62 Jan. 27, 2007.
 
Wright led the team with her 10^th double-double of the season on the strength of 19 points and 17 rebounds. In her past two games, Wright is averaging 18.5 rebounds per game.
 
Also cracking double-figures for Tarleton was Berry and Adamson, who dropped in 17 and 10 points, respectively, while Sims added a career-high seven points off the bench.
 
Tarleton shot 43 percent from the floor and held the Zias to just 40 percent after keeping ENMU to just 11 of 33 from the floor in the second half. The TexAnns outscored ENMU 30-18 in the paint and won the rebounding battle 35-28.
 
The TexAnns return to action Saturday when they host West Texas A&M at 5 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.