STEPHENVILLE – On the strength of the highest-scoring first half of the season, Tarleton State finished off the regular season with style Sunday night as the TexAnns thumped Texas A&M-Commerce 97-53 to secure the No. 4 seed in the LSC Championship Tournament.
 
The game was also senior night in Wisdom Gym and the TexAnns honored seniors Kathy Thomas and Karli Moore before the game.
 
While the Tarleton defense kept Texas A&M-Commerce from even reaching double digits on the scoreboard over the first 15 minutes of the game, the TexAnn offense started scoring early and often beginning with a layup from Bailey Wipff off a dime from Kathy Thomas.
 
The Wipff layup was the first of six unanswered points to open the game and the start of a 29-4 run over the first 11:28 of the game.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce didn't score points on consecutive possessions until the 8:08 mark of the opening half on a free throw and a layup on two straight trips up the court to cut the TexAnn lead to 22. Tarleton immediately put an end to any kind of positive run for the Lions when Travanti Downes drilled a jumper to push the lead back to 24 and start a 9-0 run to put Tarleton up by 31 – its first 30-point lead of the night.
 
Commerce pulled back to 28 but a pair of Morgan Ashmore free throws quickly pushed the lead back to 30 and started a 17-9 half-closing run to send the TexAnns into halftime with a 55-19 lead.
 
The 55-point first half was the highest scoring half of basketball by the TexAnns this season, topping the previous high of 47 that Tarleton did two times during the regular season. In the opening half, Tarleton shot 58 percent from the floor on 21-36 shooting, including 9-16 from downtown, while Kathy Thomas (16) and Meagan O'Dell (11) scored in double figures during the first 20 minutes of action.
 
Tarleton opened the second half with four straight free throws to quickly push the lead to 40 over the first 40 seconds of the fresh half. Over the entire second half, Tarleton never led by less than 35 or more than 46 as the TexAnns cruised into the No. 4 seed at next week's LSC Championship Tournament.
 
Every TexAnn score in the game for Tarleton, led by Thomas who poured in 23 points in her final game at Wisdom Gym. Raven McGrath and O'Dell each scored 11 while Bailey Wipff added 10 to round out the double-figure scorers.
 
Travanti Downes, Breanna Fuller, Nyariak Duop and Ikpeaku Iwobi each scored six points while Averie Mack added four. Morgan Ashmore and Karli Moore each scored three points while Brooklyn Garcia, Haley Trentham, Tiara Tatum and DeAndra Wheeler rounded out the scoring with two points apiece.
 
Tarleton State shot 49 percent from the floor, including 46 percent from beyond the arc on 12-26 shooting, and 85 percent at the line. Tarleton's 12 3-pointers tied the school record for most in a game, which was last done in 2013.
 
The TexAnns won the rebounding battle 40-28, including 13-8 on the offensive glass that led to 15 second-chance points. Tarleton also forced 21 Lion turnovers that led to a 34-10 points off turnovers discrepancy.
 
With the win, Tarleton State finished the regular season with a record of 17-9 and secured the No. 4 seed in next week's LSC Championship Tournament and will play Texas Woman's at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the Allen Event Center.