Box Score SAN ANGELO – Despite surging late in the second half to bring the game within one possession, Tarleton dropped its second straight game Wednesday night with a 60-55 loss to Angelo State at the Junell Center.
 
After trailing for the entire game, and as many as 15 with 10:45 left in the contest, an inside basket from Tarleton's All-American center Kiara Wright turned the tide of the ballgame and started a late TexAnn surge.
 
The Wright bucket started an 11-3 Tarleton run over the next seven minutes to bring the TexAnns within seven points – the lowest margin since 30 seconds into the second half.
 
After Angelo scored the next three points to stretch the lead back to 10, Tarleton drilled 3-pointers on three of its next four possessions – from Meagan O'Dell, Brianna Bledsoe and Kathy Thomas – to trail by just three at 56-53 with 1:17 left in the game.
 
The teams traded a pair of points to keep it a three-point game with 22 seconds left, forcing Tarleton to foul.
 
Angelo State went to the line with 20 seconds left and missed the one-and-one free throw but Tarleton couldn't secure the rebound and was forced to foul again. The Rambelles complied by missing their next two free throws, but again Tarleton couldn't reel it in as the Rambelles connected for the deciding free throws on their third attempt.
 
Tarleton trailed from the get-go as Angelo State opened the game on a 14-2 run and maintained the lead to head into halftime with an eight-point advantage.
 
The TexAnns shot 44 percent from the floor on 22-56 shooting, 29 percent from downtown on 5-17 shooting and 60 percent from the charity stripe on 6-10 shooting compared to Angelo's 39 percent, 29 percent and 52 percent, respectively.
 
Tarleton won the points battle in the paint 32-36 but lost the rebounding battle 40-29, including 15-5 on the offensive end. ASU outscored Tarleton 11-5 on second chance points.
 
Wright led the team with 16 points on 7-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds while Shanae Lowrance scored 11 points and grabbed six boards. Bledsoe was the only other TexAnn in double figures with 10.
 
Kathy Thomas added nine while O'Dell (7) and Karli Moore (2) were the only other TexAnns to score.
 
This is Tarleton's fifth loss in the last eight games and fourth straight loss on the road with the last road win coming January 15 at Midwestern State.
 
Tarleton returns home in hopes of ending their current two-game skid Saturday when the TexAnns host Texas A&M-Kingsville at 4:30 p.m. in Wisdom Gym. The game time has been moved up from the originally scheduled 5 p.m. start due to television scheduling conflicts with the men's game.