STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Saturday's matchup featured the top and bottom teams in the WAC standings, but no one would have known it from the extremely competitive game on the court between Tarleton and Southern Utah. The Texans took the WAC leader to the wire, falling in overtime 80-78.
 
Tarleton (7-21, 1-16 WAC) nearly snapped their losing streak in a hard-fought battle against the Thunderbirds (18-9, 14-2 WAC). The Texans went to overtime for the fourth time this season and for their second straight home game. It also marked their third overtime contest in their last five games.
 
Over the last five minutes of regulation and the five minutes of overtime, neither team led by more than one possession in a thriller inside Wisdom Gym. With a few minutes to play in regulation, both teams traded go-ahead buckets. With 1:40 left, Cherita Daugherty gave SUU a two-point lead on a jumper. Nyajah Mitchels responded with a jumper of her own to tie the game back at 71-71 with 1:23 left. That would remain the score headed to overtime. Teresa Da Silva drew a charge with 1.5 seconds left, then on the other end, her long corner jumper went in and out as time expired.
 
In overtime, SUU's Samantha Johnston started things with a three-pointer, quickly answered by Elise Turrubiates on an and-one layup that tied the game at 74-74. Turrubiates then got a steal and made a layup later in the possession to put the Texans up two. Megan Jensen tied it back with a jumper for the T-Birds at 76-76. With Tarleton down one, 77-76, with 50 seconds left, Viktoria Ivanova seemingly got a steal and immediate layup to give the Texans the lead, but officials granted SUU a timeout right before the steal. Daylani Ballena had a putback layup to put SUU up three with 26 seconds left. Mayra Caicedo came down and cut the deficit back to one with a layup and 13 ticks left. After Ballena split a pair at the stripe with nine seconds left, Da Silva missed a three-pointer with seven seconds remaining, and Tarleton was unable to corral rebounds late in the two-point loss.
 
Da Silva finished with a team-high 23 points (5-10 3PT), adding four assists, two rebounds and two steals in 42 minutes. That marked Da Silva's seventh 20+ point game of the season. Caicedo played all 45 minutes, totaling 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Ivanova finished with 14 points and four steals in 36 minutes off the bench.
 
Turrubiates notched nine points, eight rebounds and two steals. Mitchels had nine points and four boards. Emilia Axelsson went for eight points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
 
Tarleton forced 20 turnovers in this one, while turning it over just 12 times. They also had 20 offensive rebounds, keeping the battle of the boards close, 42-39. Southern Utah widely outshot the Texans however, 31-of-59 (.525) to 26-of-76 (.342) from the field and 7-of-13 (.538) to 9-of-22 (.409) from downtown.
 
Southern Utah looked poised to run away with it early, going up 9-0 to start the game over the first 2:12. They'd end the first quarter up nine, 22-13, shooting 10-of-14 (.714) from the field to Tarleton's 5-of-21 (.238) clip.
 
In the second quarter, the Thunderbirds opened their largest lead of the game of 14 at 29-15 with 6:48 to go in the frame. Down 31-21, Tarleton went on an 11-2 run to cut it to one with back-to-back Da Silva-Ivanova three-pointers. The T-Birds took a 35-32 lead into the locker room.
 
Southern Utah started the third quarter strong, building back a double-digit lead a few minutes in. Tarleton closed the quarter just as strong again, down just four after the first 30 minutes, 55-51.
 
Tomekia Whitman led the Thunderbirds with 23 points off the bench, to go with five rebounds and three blocks. Ballena also scored 20+ points, pouring in 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, four rebounds and four assists. Johnston finished with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from distance, three rebounds and two assists.
 
Tarleton has now lost 12 straight games, their longest skid since losing 21 in a row between the
1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. They started 0-20 that 1994-95 season, which was Tarleton's first year at the NCAA level, playing in Division II. During the current 12-game skid, Tarleton has had seven single-digit losses, including two in OT and one in 2OT.
 
The Texans will play their season finale on Tuesday at home against Seattle U at 6 p.m. CT, as they host Purple Out and Senior Day. There will be 500 free T-shirts for fans in the bottom section, as Tarleton aims to send their seniors out in style.