Complete Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Texas Wesleyan University Lady Ram basketball team put together a pretty good first half, but couldn’t hold on as The UT-Permian Basin Lady Falcons put on a second-half free throw shooting clinic, and picked up their first win of the season.

Kim Chaffin opened the game by hitting a three pointer for the Lady Falcons, and Codye Pittman followed with a lay-up as UTPB jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. After Kim Cooper knocked down a short jumper for the Lady Rams, two more Lady Falcons connected, and Wesleyan found themselves in a 9-2 hole after four minutes of play. The Lady Rams fought back, though, and managed to put together a 14-5 run over the next three minutes to take the lead at 16-14.

UTPB came back to take a brief one-point lead before Shayla Coleman hit two consecutive buckets to put Wesleyan ahead 24-21 with nine minutes to play. Ashley Walker and Ertasha Jackson got hot, and the Lady Rams extended the lead to 43-32, but UTPB scored the last six point of the half and went to the break down only five.

Opening the second half on a 10-5 run, the Lady Falcons evened the score at 48 with 16 minutes left to play. Shawndrika Courtney then hit a single free throw for the lady rams, giving them a 49-48 lead. It would be their last of the night.

On baskets by five different Lady Falcons, UTPB scored the next 11 points, and took a commanding 59-49 lead with 13:32 remaining. Coleman and Naomi Vann hit a pair of buckets for Wesleyan to help stop the bleeding, but the Lady Rams kept fouling, and UTBP rarely missed from the line. They built the lead up to as high as 18 points at 89-71, before a late Wesleyan rally closed the gap to 93-77 as the final buzzer sounded.

Chaffin led the Lady Falcons with 25 points, hitting six of ten from the field and ten of 11 from the line. Jessica Hearn scored 20, Pittman had 18 and Angie Synatzske scored 17. The four combined to shoot 33 of 36 from the free throw line for the evening. Teresa Wiseman led UTPB with six rebounds, and Kendra Tindol pulled down 5 boards and scored nine points.

For the Lady Rams, Shayla Coleman led with 20 points on 50 percent shooting. Shawndrika Courtney scored 17 and had eight rebounds, and Ashley Walker score 11. Cooper led Wesleyan with nine rebounds.

With the loss, the Lady Rams drop back to .500 on the season at 7-7. They fall to 1-3 in Red River Conference play. They return to action on Monday evening, facing the Lady Steers of Texas College in the Sid Richardson Gymnasium. Tip-off is at 5:30 PM.