ODESSA, Texas (Feb. 6, 2020) – Texas-Permian Basin used strong 3-point shooting to build a quick lead in the first quarter and never looked back while beating Oklahoma Christian 80-68 on Thursday in the Falcon Dome.

UTPB (9-13, 6-10 Lone Star Conference) moved within a half-game of OC (6-13, 6-9) for 12th place in the league standings. The top 12 teams at the end of the regular season will qualify for the LSC postseason basketball tournament.

OC and UTPB both went 24 of 59 from the field (40.7 percent) and each attempted 24 3-pointers, but the Falcons hit 11 while OC made only six. Holly Hemmeline went 6 of 10 from behind the arc and led UTPB with 27 points. The Falcons also outrebounded the Eagles 43-32.

"It was the same story – too many turnovers in the first half and we let them outrebound us," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "Foul trouble really hurt us in the first half, too. But on the bright side, we had only four turnover in the second half. They beat us at the 3-point line and the free-throw line.

"We really missed Megan Shelton on defense and hitting threes for us. She has a med-school interview Friday morning so we had to leave her behind (in Oklahoma City)."

OC committed six turnovers in the first 5½ minutes, while the Falcons hit four of five 3-point attempts to build a 14-7 lead. The Eagles pulled within 22-18 on a basket by Maddison Collyer with 7:31 left in the second quarter, but those were OC's last points of the half. UTPB closed the half on a 15-0 run and led 37-18 at halftime.

The Falcons' lead remained at double digits in the second half despite the efforts of OC junior Katie Mayo, who scored 19 of her season-high 23 points after halftime and added eight rebounds.

Collyer finished with 11 points while Kendra Levings scored 10 for OC. Kayla Galindo scored 18 points for UTPB and Alexus Quaadman had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

OC now will make the long journey to Silver City, N.M. – the westernmost outpost in the LSC – to face Western New Mexico on Saturday.