The TexAnn basketball team traveled to Denton on Nov. 23 and 24 to compete in the Marriott Champions Circle Pioneer Premiere. The TexAnns finished 2-0 in the tournament and are now 5-1 for the season.

The first game for the TexAnns was against the University of Central Oklahoma. The TexAnns defeated the Bronchos 72-62.

Tarleton offense started out slow with UCO taking an early 14-8 lead.

Kiara Wright kicked off her 16 point game with a layup and sparked an 18-5 TexAnn run to give them a 26-19 lead with 6:01 left in the first half. Tarleton was able to get out of the offensive slump that seemed to haunt them from Tuesday and not trail by less than four for the remainder of the half.

Going into the locker room for the break, the scoreboard read Tarleton 31, UCO 24.

The Bronchos came out ready to take back the lead. They kicked off a 14-5 UCO run and managed to make the score 38-36 in their favor with 14:34 left in the game.

With 3-pointers going back and forth between the teams, UCO tried to get the game back in their favor, but weren’t successful.

Two free throws by Brianna Bledsoe gave Tarleton their final 10-point lead, and the final score for the game.

Wright was able to get her first double-double in three games with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Wright is just 13 points shy from being named to the top 10 Tarleton scorers in school history.

Bledsoe had a team leading 20 points, and Kathy Thomas brought in 15 points of her own.

Morgan Ashmore (6), Shanae Lowrance (5), Meagan O’Dell (5), Karli Moore (4), and Ikpeaku Iwobi (1) completed the scoring for the TexAnns.

Game two of the tournament for the TexAnns was against Regis University.

Kiara Wright had a career-high 35 points and 17 rebounds, giving her the second double-double for the tournament and moving her into the top 10 in Tarleton’s all-time scoring list. She now has 1,208 points during her Tarleton career.

Tarleton started the game with a 9-0 run. Morgan Ashmore hit a 3-pointer in the first five seconds. Kathy Thomas had a jumper, and then Wright scored four points to finish out the run.

Regis was able to get seven points of their own up, cutting the TexAnn lead down to two.

Tarleton wasn’t about to give up the lead and answered with an 11-0 run triggered by a layup from Wright and a 3-pointer from Thomas.

Tarleton managed to get the score to 20-7 before the first half was even halfway finished. The score going into the second half was Tarleton 25, Regis 13.

Two layups from Wright and another Ashmore 3-pointer started off the second half. Tarleton managed to get the lead by 33 points, the largest this season.

The game concluded with the TexAnns’ side of the scoreboard reading 90, and Regis’s 60.

Helping Wright lead the TexAnns to victory were Ashmore and Shanae Lowrance with eight points each, Raven McGrath with six and Brianna Bledsoe with five.

Margaret Lemke (4), Meagan O’Dell (4), Karli Moore (4), Courtneh Randle (2), Keyra Johnson (2), and Ikpeaku Iwobi (2) also aided in the TexAnn victory.

The next game for the TexAnns will be Tuesday, Nov. 26 against Texas Wesleyan at 6 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.