CANYON – A late run by No. 8 West Texas A&M spoiled an otherwise strong performance by the Tarleton TexAnns, who fell to the Lady Buffs 78-73 in overtime Saturday at the First United Bank Center.
 
"Our girls fought so hard and played very well together," said second-year head coach Misty Wilson. "It was probably the best I have seen them play this season and that excites me for the rest of the season. If they can play a team like this in a place like this, then we should be able to do some damage the rest of the way. They have no reason to hold their heads down."
 
Ikpeaku Iwobi led the TexAnns in scoring with 13 points on 6-8 shooting from the field, while Raven McGrath, Averie Mack, and Meagan O'Dell also cracked double figures with 11 points each – marking the most players in double figures for Tarleton in a game against an NCAA opponent this season. The only other time four TexAnns scored in double figures came on December 1 against Arlington Baptist.
 
As a team, Tarleton shot .415 from the floor for the game on 27-65 shooting.
 
Tarleton opened the game on fire from the floor as Bailey Wipff got the scoring started with a triple to start a 14-4 TexAnn run over the opening eight minutes of game. During that stretch, Tarleton got scoring from Wipff, Breanna Fuller, Iwobi, McGrath, and Travanti Downes and the TexAnns went into the second quarter with a 14-8 lead.
 
The TexAnns stretched their first-half lead to as many as 11 with 6:34 to go in the second quarter, but couldn't bury the Lady Buffs as West Texas A&M clawed back and ended the quarter with five unanswered points to send the game into halftime with a 34-31 Tarleton lead.
 
West Texas A&M came out of the break and took a quick lead, but a three-pointer from McGrath started a 2:22, 10-1 Tarleton run to put the TexAnns back on top by seven with 14:14 left in the game. The TexAnns maintained its lead over the rest of the third period and went into the fourth with a seven-point lead at 58-51 – thanks to a three-ball from Meagan O'Dell off a dish from Morgan Ashmore with four seconds left in the quarter.
 
Tarleton pushed the lead to nine in the fourth, but went scoreless over the final 2:16 of the fourth quarter and managed only three free throws from McGrath (1) and O'Dell (2) in overtime en route to the final score. Tarleton was outscored 14-3 in the final 7:15 of the game.
 
The TexAnns battled on the boards, trailing just 40-33, while Fuller led the team with nine rebounds. The senior from Huntsville has 17 rebounds in the last two games. Tarleton also won the turnover battle 16-18.
 
Tarleton will take Wednesday night off and return to action Saturday night in Wisdom Gym against Texas A&M-Commerce at 5 p.m. on Greek Night.