Box Score COMMERCE – Despite a furious rally to cut a 17-point second-half deficit to just three in the final minute, Tarleton State couldn't complete the rally and fell to Texas A&M-Commerce in the regular season finale Saturday night.
 
Tarleton finishes the regular season with a record of 19-7 overall, 10-6 in Lone Star Conference action and have secured the No. 2 seed in next week's Lone Star Conference Tournament – where they will open the championship with a rematch against A&M-Commerce Wednesday at noon in the Allen Event Center.
 
The TexAnns trailed from the get-go as the Lions drilled a 3-pointer at 19:18 in the opening half to start a 9-2 scoring run over the next 1:35.
 
Tarleton cut the Lion lead to as little as five over the next seven minutes and Commerce pushed it to as many as 11, but two straight buckets from Kathy Thomas and a Kiara Wright free throw cut an 18-9 deficit to a four-point game with 10:51 left in the first half.
 
After the TexAnns pulled as close as three with a Travanti Downes jumper; the Lions pulled away again with an 11-2 run to lead 30-18 with 4:55 left in the half. Commerce led by at least nine over the remainder of the half and went into the break with a 40-28 lead.
 
Out of the break, Commerce maintained their double-figure lead and stretched it to as many as 17 with a 62-45 with 7:59 left in the game.
 
A Wright layup started – and capped off – a 12-2 Tarleton run to bring the TexAnn deficit to seven at 64-57 with 4:28 left in the game. The Lions held leads between eight and five points until the final minute when Thomas hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left in the game to make it a one-possession game.
 
Tarleton was forced to foul and the Lions went 2-2 at the line to bring the game to its final score at 74-69 and the TexAnns missed two 3-point looks in the final eight seconds en route to the loss.
 
Wright led the way with her 56^th career double-double with 22 points and 17 rebounds while Shanae Lowrance had her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Thomas also cracked double figures with 11 points.
 
Brianna Bledsoe and Raven McGrath each scored eight points while Downes and Ikpeaku Iwobi tallied four and Keyra Johnson added two to round out the scoring.
 
Tarleton won the battles in the paint – outrebounding the Lions 47-43 and 40-30 in the paint – and outshot the Lions from the floor for the game – 41 percent to 39 percent. However, the 40-28 first half proved to be too much to overcome.
 
The TexAnns and Lions will square off once again Wednesday at noon in Allen to kick off the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship at the Allen Event Center.