STEPHENVILLE – It wasn't a typical 8-versus-1 matchup in the opening round of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament as the TexAnns gave No. 9 Colorado State-Pueblo all they could handle before falling 68-59 to the Thunderwolves.
"I think it was a heck of a ball game," said third-year head coach
Misty Wilson. "We were able to battle back and make it a lot closer than people may have expected this game to be. It really hurt us losing Bailey (Wipff to injury) – obviously, it hurts when you lose your second-leading scorer – but the rest of the players fought hard and did a great job."
Pueblo jumped out to a quick lead, but the TexAnns stayed right with them over the first 7:25 of the opening quarter as Tarleton pulled within a single bucket on four different occasions and tied the score once. The Thunderwolves answered, however, with an 8-1 run over the final 2:35 to take a nine-point lead into the second quarter with Wipff on the sideline.
The Thunderwolves started the second quarter by extending their lead to 14 before
Ikpeaku Iwobi scored four straight points to start a 9-0 Tarleton run to pull within five with 3:43 left in the half. Pueblo responded with six unanswered to take an 11-point lead into the break.
Tarleton came out in complete control of the third quarter by outscoring the Thunderwolves 21-15 in that 10-minute stretch to head into, what would be the final quarter of the season, trailing only by five.
The resilience of Tarleton showed no ends as the TexAnns battled, pulling within just two possessions on three different occasions but ultimately getting no closer than six in the final quarter.
Mackenzie Hailey, who was praised by Pueblo head coach Jim Turgeon in the postgame press conference as "outstanding" Friday night, finished the game with 23 points on 7-of-18 shooting, including 4-of-9 from downtown, and grabbed five rebounds.
Ikpeaku Iwobi and
Tiara Tatum each scored eight for Tarleton while
Travanti Downes and
Kylie Collins each tallied six. Wipff finished the game with three points after missing most of the first half due to injury while
Baylee Peck (2),
Shelby Mankins (2), and
Trejouir Wilson (1) rounded out the scoring for Tarleton.
The game marked the career end for three TexAnn seniors: Wipff, Downes, and Iwobi.
Wipff was a three-year player for Tarleton that has played in 83 games in her career. She will go into the record books as the second-best 3-point shooter in Tarleton history behind only Hall of Famer, Katie Crawford-Morgan, with 161 made triples on 422 attempts for a .382 shooting percentage from downtown.
Downes played in 107 games in her four years with the purple and white, helping Tarleton reach the national playoffs in her freshman and senior seasons – alongside Iwobi. Downes finished her Tarleton career with 422 points, including a career high 204 this season, and 294 total rebounds.
Iwobi played in 110 games over the last four years for Tarleton and will go down as one of the top players in the NCAA era of TexAnn basketball. The Houston native finished her career with 997 points and 740 rebounds, making her one of two TexAnns in the school's NCAA history with over 900 points and over 700 rebounds. She also finished her career No. 6 all-time in rebounds.
