The University of Texas of the Permian Basin wins in the opening round of the Heartland Conference Tournament in a shootout against Texas A&M International (TAMIU), 79-68.
Each team came out firing away at the basket, putting up a combined 24 points before the first media timeout.
As the game continued, the Falcons took control early as UTPB ran out to a 26-19 lead over the Dustdevils with 10:50 left in the half.
TAMIU would answer back and run the Falcons down as the Dustdevils cut the lead down to one point, 32-31, at the 6:41 mark of the first half.
The Falcons would extend the lead again, taking a nine point lead, 44-35, with 1:27 left before halftime. Again, TAMIU would respond by hitting a three at the buzzer to cut the Falcon advantage to only six heading into the break.
This theme continued in the second half. UTPB would extend its lead only to have TAMIU chop it back down.
The turning point of the game came at the 9:34 mark when a Dustdevil layup would cut the UTPB lead to one point at 62-61. From that point forward, the UTPB offense got hot while the defense turned up its intensity. UTPB went on a 14-2 run to extend its lead to 76-63 at the 3:43 mark. A free throw after a TAMIU technical foul gave UTPB its largest lead of the day at 14 points, 77-63, with 2:23 left in the game.
This time, the Dustdevils could not cut into the Falcons lead as UTPB advanced in the tournament with a 79-68 victory.
Junior guard Miesha Blackshear had a dominating performance in the opening round of the tournament. Blackshear had 17 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, four steals, and one block in the game. Sophomore guard Tammy Acosta led all scorers in the game with 30 points. Acosta filled out her stat line with four rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Junior guard Andrea Chavez continued to play well for UTPB, scoring 16 points with five rebounds and three assists. Junior forward Callie Norris put up 10 points with four rebounds and a steal.
UTPB will face St. Mary’s in the semifinal game at 2:30 Friday, March 5, at St. Mary’s in San Antonio. The two teams split the regular season matchups, each winning at home.