STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State dominated down low Saturday night as the TexAnns scored 40 points in the paint and grabbed 48 rebounds in a 77-68 victory over Eastern New Mexico at Wisdom Gym.
 
The win was also a memorable one for Misty Wilson as the rookie head coach notched win No. 15 of her first year as a head coach. The win eclipses Ronnie Hearne's rookie win total of 14 to give Wilson the most wins by a Tarleton rookie head coach since the school joined the NCAA and Lone Star Conference in 1994.
 
Eastern New Mexico got on the board first, but Bailey Wipff answered right back with a 3-ball to get Tarleton on the board and start an 8-0 run for the TexAnns over the first 3:06. The Zias would answer back, however, with an 18-13 push of their own to make it a 21-20 contest with 11:46 left in the opening half.
 
At the 10:32 mark, Morgan Ashmore launched a half-court outlet pass to a streaking Meagan O'Dell down the left sideline for a transition bucket and a foul to get the TexAnn offense rolling. O'Dell connected on the free throw for the beginning of a 24-15 Tarleton advantage over the rest of the first half to go into the break with a 45-35 lead.
 
Out of the break, Ikpeaku Iwobi got the TexAnns on the board first with a jumper off a pass from Karli Moore to keep Tarleton rolling.
 
The TexAnns gradually expanded the lead to as many as 18 and held at least a double-figure lead for the first 18 minutes of the new half. Over the final two minutes, Eastern pulled it to single digits – as close as seven – but the TexAnns got four straight free throws from Wipff to ice the game.
 
Tarleton was led by a trio of double-figure scorers, including Kathy Thomas who poured in 17 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor and 4-7 shooting from downtown. Breanna Fuller scored 14 points and grabbed nine boards while Iwobi recorded her 10^th career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Wipff scored nine while Travanti Downes poured in eight. Moore (7), Raven McGrath (4), O'Dell (3), Ashmore (2) and Averie Mack (2) rounded out the scoring for Tarleton.
 
As a team, Tarleton shot 48 percent from the floor, including 31 percent from downtown, and 80 percent at the charity stripe. The TexAnns outscored the Zias 40-26 in the paint and won the rebounding battle 48-31, including 33-18 on the defensive glass.
 
Tarleton State will return to action Wednesday night in its final regular season road trip of the season when they venture to Abilene for a 6 p.m. tip off against McMurry.