by ODESSA, Texas – The Aggie women’s basketball team fell one point short in their fourth quarter comeback, as they lost a 66-65 game to UT Permian Basin on Thursday night.
The Black and Gold had a decent night shooting, hitting on 44.4 percent of the shots from the field and 40.9 percent of their three pointers. They also went 8-11 from the foul line, but 18 turnovers in the contest and a slow start to the first half were big factors in the loss.
Ava Battese (Comanche/PBPN) and Maighan Hedge each had a team-high 18 points, as Hedge was 8-16 from the field and Battese was 6-10 with four made three pointers. Natalie Halbleib was also in double figures with 13 points to go along with a team-best eight rebounds.
Cameron got off to a slow start against the Falcons, scoring just seven points in the firth quarter. In the first half as a whole, CU shot 55 percent from the field while going 3-8 from three, but turned the ball over 13 times and only making it to the free throw line twice. Despite outscoring UTPB 19-14 in the second frame, they still trailed by six at halftime.
Battese had the hot hand in the first 20 minutes, scoring 10 points while going 4-5 from the field and 2-3 from three point range. UTPB had both Khali Pippins-Tryon and Juliette Akinwole with 10 points at the break, while the Falcons shot 39.4 percent from the field as a team in the first half.
Both teams exploded for 22 points each in the third quarter alone, with the home team UT Permian Basin still leading by six, 54-48 heading into the final frame. They opened up the fourth with four straight points to extend their lead to 10 points at the 6:51 mark, but CU quickly cut the deficit back down to four with a 6-0 run of their own. UTPB jumped back out by seven thanks to a Pippins-Tryon jumper with three minutes to play, but a pair of Battese threes got CU to within one with 2:27 left on the clock.
In the final two minutes, UT Permian Basin used a Sarah Bersang three and a free throw from Lemia Ntor-Ue to go up 66-62 at the 1:32 mark, but a Halbleib three pointer got the Aggies back to within one with just 43 ticks on the clock. UTPB ran the clock down as far as they could, but missed the jumper with 12 seconds on the clock to give CU the ball with 10 seconds left to try and take the lead. However, Pippins-Tryon got a steal of Hedge in the final seconds to secure the 66-65 win.
Pippins-Tryon led the Falcons with a game-high 24 points, while Akinwole finished with 14. UTPB shot over 46 percent from the field, going 4-10 from the perimeter and 12-17 from the foul line.
The loss dropped Cameron’s season record to 7-16 overall and 4-11 in Lone Star Conference play. The Falcons earned their first conference win of the year and are now 4-19 overall and 1-14 against LSC opponents.
