Box Score STEPHENVILLE – Kiara Wright pieced together one of the most dominant performances in recent history Wednesday night, tied Tarleton NCAA rebounding history and hit the game-winning layup with 14 seconds left to lead the TexAnns past Texas Woman's 71-69 in Wisdom Gym.
 
“I know the offense stands out, but her defense was excellent tonight,” said head coach Ronnie Hearne. “Her teammates did a good job of getting her the ball, and I know she's appreciative of that. When you're a post player and you have that many points, you have to credit your teammates. She has to be considered real highly as the best player in our conference and an All-American.”
 
Wright scored a career-high 34 points on 11-15 shooting from the floor and 12-16 shooting from the free throw line in addition to 11 rebounds and five steals.
 
Her 11 boards tied her with JoAnne Jones for eighth on the all-time Tarleton rebound list as well as giving her a share of the school record for career rebounds in Tarleton's 18-year NCAA history.
 
“I was fortunate enough to coach both JoAnne (Jones) and Kiara, and I think what sets these two players apart is their desire and hunger to rebound the ball,” said Hearne. “They both have good hands and Kiara is just so strong – I don't think there is anyone stronger than Kiara.”
 
For the third time in the last four games, Tarleton had to rally from a second half deficit as Texas Woman's took a five-point lead over Tarleton with 12:11 left to play before Kiara Wright answered with a 6-1 run for Tarleton to knot the score 54-54 with 8:55 left.
 
The teams traded the lead and went into two ties over the next 5:07 before Keyra Johnson hit a jumper from the right elbow to put Tarleton up 67-65.
 
Wright extended the lead to four with a layup before Texas Woman's scored four unanswered to tie the game at 69-69 for final knotted score of the game.
 
Out of a timeout, Peyton Adamson drove to the basket and found a wide-open Wright for the go-ahead layup with 14 seconds on the clock. Texas Woman's missed their final shot attempt of the night as Tarleton went on to the win.
 
Wright got the scoring started just nine seconds into the contest by drawing a foul and knocking down a pair of free throws to put Tarleton on top 2-0. The TexAnns went on to build an 8-3 lead over the first 2:14.
 
Texas Woman's would not go away, however, answering with a 20-12 run over the next 11 minutes to take a 25-20 lead – their biggest of the half – with just under 6:30 to play.
 
Wright struck again with a layup – off a pass from Johnson – to start a 14-2 TexAnn run that gave Tarleton the lead again – their biggest of the opening half to that point – 34-27 with 2:58 left.
 
Tarleton pushed its lead to eight with 1:47 left before the Pioneers ended the opening half on a 5-0 run. The TexAnns led at halftime, however, 40-37.
 
In the first 20 minutes of action, both teams were shooting over 50 percent from the floor while Wright was dominating the box score with 22 points in the first half.
 
Behind Wright's 34, Adamson was the only double-figure scorer with 15 points while Johnson added nine off the bench. Morgan Ashmore also tied her career-high in assists with seven.
 
The teams each shot an identical 51 percent from the floor while Tarleton was 70 percent from the charity stripe compared to TWU's 67 percent.
 
The TexAnns are on the road this weekend for a 2 p.m. Saturday game at Texas A&M-Commerce.