Box Score ALLEN – After rallying from a double-digit first half deficit to take a lead late in the game, Tarleton State couldn't hold on as a late run ended the TexAnns' run in the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament.
 
Tarleton fell in Saturday's LSC Championship game 76-67 to West Texas A&M Saturday.
 
The TexAnns found themselves in an early hole after the Lady Buffs opened the game on a 22-8 run, but a 3-ball by Raven McGrath with 10:53 left in the opening period turned the tide for Tarleton and started a 13-1 Tarleton run to cut the WT lead to two.
 
"We just didn't match their intensity to start the game, especially on the defensive side," said Tarleton head coach Ronnie Hearne. "We went to our bench and some younger players really stepped up and picked up the team – Raven McGrath, Travanti Downes, Karli Moore and Ikpeaku Iwobi. Those girls deserve a lot of credit."
 
After the Lady Buffs pushed the lead back to seven, Meagan O'Dell drained back-to-back 3-balls to tie the game for the first time since 2-2.
 
WT retook the lead by three and appeared primed to head into halftime with a 32-29 lead but McGrath drove the length of the floor and attempted a shot which rimmed out with two seconds left but a hustling rebound and tip-in by Karli Moore gave the TexAnns momentum heading into the break at 32-31.
 
Out of the break, the teams battled to pull away but neither team could as the largest lead for most of the second half came when a pair of Moore free throws put Tarleton up by four with 12:43 left.
 
With 4:11 left, Ikpeaku Iwobi hit a layup to maintain Tarleton's lead at 62-59 but the lead would not last, however, as WT answered with a 17-5 run over the final four minutes.
 
In the last four minutes of the game, Tarleton State was 2-7 from the field, 0-3 from beyond the arc and just 1-6 at the free throw line while the Lady Buffs were 10-10 at the charity stripe down the stretch.
 
With the Tarleton starters in foul trouble for most of the game, the younger TexAnns provided big minutes off the bench with McGrath scoring eight points, dishing out three assists and committing no turnovers in 27 minutes.
 
Also off the bench, Tarleton got 10 points and six rebounds from Iwobi, eight points from Moore and four points from Downes – each in over 15 minutes.
 
"They definitely stepped up for us," said senior guard Brianna Bledsoe. "I'm so proud of them. We know that we can rely on them to give us everything they have and I'm just so proud of the way they played tonight."
 
Kiara Wright scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her 58^th career double-double while O'Dell added nine points. Shanae Lowrance scored six while Bledsoe and Kathy Thomas scored four each to round out the Tarleton scoring.
 
Tarleton was outrebounded 43-32 but won the scoring in the paint 36-32. The biggest difference in the game came on the free throw line where Tarleton was 12-26 and West Texas A&M was 31-39.
 
The TexAnns, who are the No. 3 seed in the South Central region, will advanced to their sixth NCAA Regional Tournament in school history next weekend. The final field will be determined tomorrow night at 9 p.m. There will be a selection show in Wisdom Gym.