TexAnns drop nail biter to open season

Advertisement
Tarleton State tipped off a new season Friday in the Whataburger Tipoff Classic. || TheFlashToday.com photo by DAVID SWEARINGEN

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

STEPHENVILLE (November 11, 2016) — It’s a season-opening classic, and Tarleton State’s women found themselves in just that Friday evening – a classic.

The TexAnns came out on the short end of a 68-66 thriller against Missouri Science & Technology in their season opener as part of the Whataburger Tipoff Classic at Wisdom Gym Friday evening. They complete their action in the classic at 5 p.m. Saturday against St. Mary’s.

Raetchel Gray buried a 3-pointer with 3:31 remaining to give Missouri S&T a 64-61 lead, and the Miners were up the rat of the way.

Tarleton had just tied the game on a bucket in the paint by Ikpeaku Iwobi off a nifty assist from Travanti Downes, and while the TexAnns also pulled within one twice after the Gray 3-pointer, they could never get over the hump. Iwobi cut it to 64-63 with 3:08 left, but Sandra Douvier connected on a jumper for S&T with 1:29 on the clock.

Mackenie Hailey scored to pull Tarleton within 66-65 with 1:07 remaining, but Daye drove through the Tarleton defense and hit a layup with 27 seconds remaining for the Miners.

Iwobi was fouled with 10 seconds and change remaining, and hit the first free throw. The second caromed off, Janie Arand grabbed the rebound for S&T, and fouling did Tarleton no good because the TexAnn had committed no previous fouls in the fourth quarter and couldn’t get S&T to the line.

Daye scored 14 and Arand 13 to lead S&T, while Tiara Tatum poured in 18, Hailey 17 and Iwobi 14 for Tarleton. Hailey, a sophomore Division I transfer from UT-Arlington, also collected 10 rebounds for a double-double.

The TexAnns shot just 29 percent in the fourth quarter, when Missouri S&T hit 62 percent. For the game, the Miners knocked down 44 percent and Tarleton 40 percent.

The score was tied four times, the last at 61-61 before the big 3-pointer by Gray. Tarleton outscored the Miners 34-26 in the paint and 17-6 in second-chance points, but S&T had a big advantage of 23-11 off the bench.


Advertisement
Advertisement

TheFlashToday.com photos by DAVID SWEARINGEN


Photos courtesy NATHAN BURAL/Tarleton Athletic Communications

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.