STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton couldn't withstand a second-half Texas Woman's charge and dropped its second straight game 61-58 to the Pioneers Sunday afternoon.
 
After Texas Woman's' Kara Mitchell went 1-2 at the free throw line with four seconds on the clock, the TexAnns inbounded the ball, called a timeout, and advanced the inbound to get one final look as time expired. Tarleton was unable to get the shot off as the final buzzer sounded.
 
Tarleton, who entered the second half with nine-point lead, couldn't overcome the Pioneers' free-throw laden surge in the second half. Texas Woman's scored 36 points in the second half with 14 coming at the free throw line on 22 attempts in the half and 20-31 for the game, while Tarleton went to the line 15 times for the game and just eight in the second half en route to 24 second-half points.
 
Bailey Wipff and Nia Jackson each scored in double figures with and 12, respectively, while Raven McGrath (8), Megan O'Dell (7), and Breanna Fuller (6) combined for 21 points. Ikpeaku Iwobi (5), Morgan Ashmore (5), and Catherine Okwilagwe (2) rounded out the scoring for Tarleton.
 
For the game, the teams were even in shooting from the floor with Tarleton taking the edge from downtown with 35 percent. Tarleton battled on the boards and collected 37 – the same as Texas Woman's.
 
Tarleton got the scoring started when Ikpeaku Iwobi drilled a three-ball from the right wing to put the TexAnns on the board. Her triple was followed up with a Morgan Ashmore Jumper that made things 5-0 Tarleton right out of the gate. The TexAnns maintained at least a three-point lead over the rest of the opening quarter and went into the new period up five.
 
The TexAnns got back-to-back three-pointers by Raven McGrath and Bailey Wipff to open the new quarter and extend the Tarleton lead to double figures for the first time at 23-12. Tarleton stretched the lead to as many as 17 before the Pioneers scored eight straight before the half to send the TexAnns into the locker room at halftime with a 34-25 lead.
 
Tarleton will look to turn things around Wednesday night with a 5:30 p.m. game against Eastern New Mexico in Wisdom Gym.