STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton got 46 of its 71 points from Ikpeaku Iwobi, Bailey Wipff, and Raven McGrath as the TexAnns won a thriller in front of a packed house at Wisdom Gym on Greek Night Saturday.
 
Tarleton led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before the Lions pulled within one point at 56-55 with seven minutes left in the game. Iwobi answered the call as the junior from Houston got back-to-back buckets to fall off assists from Catherine Okwilagwe and McGrath to push the TexAnns back on top by five with five to go.
 
Iwobi led the team with 18 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes of action.
 
Commerce cut the lead back to two on three different occasions in the final four minutes, but Tarleton put the game away by going seven of eight at the free throw line – all from Morgan Ashmore and Bailey Wipff – in the final 1:13. Wipff finished the game with 17 points on 5-8 shooting and 4-6 at the free throw line while Ashmore had six points on a field goal and four free throws in four attempts.
 
Tarleton got out to a big lead early – going up by as many as eight in the final minute of the opening quarter – and went into the second half with a six-point lead. Tarleton pushed its lead to as many as nine with 5:31 left in the opening half but Commerce pulled within four before the break and Tarleton went into halftime up 33-29.
 
The TexAnns forced 11 turnovers and shot .417 from downtown in the opening half.
 
An 11-4 run by the TexAnns, capped off with a Wipff jumper, pushed the Tarleton lead to a game-high 11 points with 4:57 left in the third quarter. Commerce pulled back to even the game with 15 seconds left before a jumper from Tiara Tatum rolled around at the buzzer and fell through the net for a 49-47 Tarleton advantage heading into the final frame.
 
Behind Iwobi and Wipff on the scoring chart was McGrath, who went for 11 points on 3-5 shooting from the floor. McGrath also added four rebounds and two assists while serving as the primary defender on Commerce's top-scoring guard Princess Davis. McGrath held Davis, who entered the game averaging 10.2 points per game, to only seven points – five of which came at the free throw line – and a 1-7 shooting mark from the field.
 
Breanna Fuller (7), Okwilagwe (4), Averie Mack (4), O'Dell (2), and Tatum (2) rounded out the scoring for Tarleton. The TexAnns went .413 from the floor and .429 from downtown.
 
The TexAnns will return to action Wednesday night for the annual rivalry game against Midwestern State in Stephenville at 5:30 p.m.