DENTON – Tarleton picked up its fifth straight win after squeezing past Texas Woman's on the road, 58-57, on Saturday at Kitty Magee Arena.
The TexAnns improve to 18-6 overall and 11-5 in the Lone Star Conference while Texas Woman's falls to 9-15 and 6-10 in conference.
Trailing by one in the final minute,
Mackenzie Hailey's bucket with 31 seconds left proved to be the game winner as the shot gave the TexAnns the 58-57 lead. Hailey finished with 10 points and was one of three TexAnns with four steals in the game.
Texas Woman's led for 26 of the 40 minutes in the game, including much of the first quarter by outscoring the TexAnns 16-10 in the first frame.
The TexAnns used a 6-0 run to open the second quarter with buckets from
Kaylee Allen,
Kylie Collins and
Mackenzie Hailey to go up 19-16. The Pioneers countered with a 9-0 run and led 29-25 at the break despite the TexAnns outscoring the Pioneers by two in the quarter.
After trailing 39-32 midway through the third, the TexAnns scored nine of the next 11 points to head to the fourth quarter tied at 41-41.
The Pioneers held a 50-46 lead with 5:27 remaining when
McKinley Bostad caught fire from 3-point range, draining back-to-back 3-pointers to put the TexAnns up 54-52. Allen's jumper with 2:21 left gave the TexAnns their largest lead of the game at 56-52 before Hailey's game-winning layup.
Bostad and Allen carried the Tarleton offense in the second half, scoring 10 points each to bring the TexAnns back. Allen finished with a game-high 17 points and led the team with eight rebounds and four steals. Bostad had 11 points with eight coming in the fourth quarter.
Kylie Collins had eight points for the TexAnns, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Katie Webster had two points and two steals, while
Lucy Benson scored five points and recorded four steals.
Nina Alvarez posted four points and
Hannah Hyde had one.
Tarleton will return home for the final homestand of the season as the TexAnns take on West Texas A&m on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.
