KINGSVILLE – On the national day of love, the Tarleton State TexAnns (14-8, 7-6) showed affections for scoring points and grabbing rebounds in a 70-58 blowout of Texas A&M-Kingsville (0-22, 0-13) Saturday night at the Gil E. Steinke Center.
 
It took two minutes before either team triggered the scoreboard, but Bailey Wipff was happy to oblige with a 3-pointer at 17:58 to put Tarleton top early.
 
The teams battled over the next eight minutes as the Javelinas built a 14-12 lead with 9:28 left in the opening half, but Raven McGrath drilled a 3-ball of her own to put Tarleton back on top for the final lead change Tarleton would need.
 
McGrath's triple started a run of 11 unanswered points, over which Wipff accounted for six of the points while McGrath and Moore had the other five to put Tarleton State on top 23-14 with 7:03 left in the opening half. Kingsville would pull within five twice over the rest of the half, but each time was answered with a Tarleton run that gave the TexAnns a double-figure lead – including a 3-ball from McGrath and a layup from Kathy Thomas right before halftime to send Tarleton into the break with a 10-point lead.
 
Out of the break, Thomas opened the fresh half with a 3-ball to start a 10-4 TexAnn run to extend the lead to a game-high 16 points with 16:23 left in the game. Tarleton cruised over the rest of the game, leading by as many as 15 and never less than double figures over the rest of the way.
 
Wipff led the way with 19 points on 7-11 shooting from the floor, including 4-7 from downtown, and 1-1 in her lone trip to the charity stripe. McGrath also cracked double figures with 12 points on an efficient 4-5 shooting from the floor, all from beyond the arc.
 
All 14 of the active TexAnns Saturday night got into the game and 13 recorded points.
 
Thomas scored eight while Ikpeaku Iwobi added seven points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds. Travanti Downes scored four while Meagan O'Dell, Morgan Ashmore, Breanna Fuller, Averie Mack and Brooklyn Garcia all chipped in three points. Karli Moore (2), Haley Trentham (2) and Tiara Tatum (1) rounded out the scoring for Tarleton.
 
As a team, Tarleton shot 37 percent from the floor and 43 percent from downtown while holding Kingsville to 47 percent from the floor. The TexAnns held the Javelinas without a 3-pointer in the game.
 
Tarleton won the battle on the boards 37-30, including 18-9 on the offensive glass that led to 13 second-chance points for the TexAnns.
 
The TexAnns will return to action Wednesday night on the other side of the Lone Star State when Tarleton travels to Canyon for a 5:30 p.m. tip off against the No. 6 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs at the First United Bank Center.