COMMERCE – Despite a career scoring performance from Raven McGrath, Tarleton State (11-6, 4-4) couldn't overcome second-half woes and fell to Texas A&M-Commerce (11-7, 5-3) 84-77 Saturday afternoon in the Field House.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce got off to a hot start by taking a quick 7-2 lead in the first two minutes and eventually extended its lead to as many at 8 over the first 5:14 en route to a 17-9 advantage before Morgan Ashmore cooled off the run with a 3-ball off a dime from Kathy Thomas to get the TexAnn offense rolling.
 
The Ashmore triple was the first of 10 unanswered points for Tarleton over the next four minutes to give the TexAnns their first lead of the game at 19-17.
 
After a Lion jumper evened the score right back at 19-19, McGrath hit a triple on Tarleton's next possession to start another surge that saw the TexAnns extend the lead back to 27-21 with 8:32 left in the opening half.
 
Over the rest of the half, Tarleton continued to pour on the offense by pushing the lead to 11 at the break and going into halftime with a 38-27 advantage.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce opened the second half with 10 straight points to cut the TexAnn lead down to one at 38-37. The Lions retook the lead on a triple with 14:15 left in the game and extended the advantage to 11 over the next seven minutes to lead 60-49 with 7:51 left in the game.
 
Tarleton's defense sparked a quick turnaround over the next minute and a half as Ikpeaku Iwobi drilled a 14-foot jumper to pull Tarleton back within single digits and on the ensuing inbounds pass, Ashmore came up with a loose ball when the TexAnn press forced it away and Ashmore put it back in for two points.
 
The Lions got a bucket on the offensive end but Raven McGrath answered with a triple of her own to make it a six-point game at 56-62 and force a Commerce timeout with 6:35 left to play.
 
Commerce immediately responded with eight straight to give the Lions their biggest lead of the game at 70-56, but the TexAnns continued to fight back and pulled to single digits once again on a four-point play by Meagan O'Dell to make it 68-77 with 2:31 left in the game.
 
Tarleton pulled within seven on two different occasions but could get no closer en route to the final score. Texas A&M-Commerce finished scored 57 of their 84 points in the second half.
 
McGrath led the way with her first career 20-point game, finishing with 22 on 7-14 shooting from the floor, 4-10 shooting from downtown and 4-4 at the free throw line. Karli Moore was the only other TexAnn in double-figures with 12.
 
Ashmore, Bailey Wipff and Ikpeaku Iwobi each tallied nine while Kathy Thomas finished with eight. O'Dell (5), Travanti Downes (2) and Breanna Fuller (1) rounded out the scoring for Tarleton.
 
As a team, the TexAnns shot just 37 percent from the field and 25 percent from downtown while the Lions were 46 percent from the floor and 48 percent from beyond the arc on 12-25 shooting for the game, including 9-16 on 3-pointers in the second half.
 
Tarleton State will have a quick turnaround as the TexAnns return home to host Texas Woman's tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. in Wisdom Gym. Admission to tomorrow's game will be free.