Box Score CANYON – When NCAA Division II women's basketball games tip-off Saturday afternoon, there will be 32 teams still competing for a chance at the National Championship and Tarleton State will be one of them.
 
The TexAnns advanced to the second round of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament after knocking off No. 6-seeded Texas A&M International 70-55 Friday at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.
 
This is just the second time in school history Tarleton has advanced to the round of 32. The last time came in the 2010-11 season.
 
"First off, I'd like to say that International had a great year," said Tarleton head coach Ronnie Hearne. "They run their stuff well and they are well coached.
 
"We tried to go inside, but they did a good job of collapsing and our posts did a tremendous job of passing it back out and our guards hit some shots," he continued. "Fortunately, I have Coach (Misty) Wilson on my bench and she does a great job of getting us prepared and recognizing the things we need to be doing."
 
After the Dustdevils opened the game on a quick 6-2 push, Tarleton was forced to come from behind early but Brianna Bledsoe got the TexAnns rolling with a 3-pointer to start a 7-0 TexAnn run and give the TexAnns a 9-6 lead at the 14:09 mark.
 
The teams went back and forth over the first half, with neither team leading by more than three until a Meagan O'Dell 3-ball gave Tarleton a 26-22 advantage with 3:52 left in the opening half. The Dustdevils answered back by outscoring the TexAnns 5-2 down the stretch to make it a 28-27 Tarleton lead at the break.
 
"When we went into halftime only up one, we knew we needed to make some changes in the second half," said senior guard Brianna Bledsoe. "We picked up the intensity and it showed. We had a really good second half."
 
Out of the break, O'Dell hit her first two 3-point shots of the fresh half to start Tarleton on a 20-7 run and push the Tarleton lead to 14 at 48-34. Over the run, the TexAnns got scoring from O'Dell, Shanae Lowrance, Kathy Thomas, Kiara Wright, Karli Moore and an old-fashioned 3-point play from Raven McGrath to cap off the run.
 
International cut the Tarleton lead to as little as eight over the next seven minutes before a pair of Wright free throws, a layup from Lowrance and a jumper by Thomas extended the lead back to 14 with 2:46 left in the game.
 
The Dustdevils never pulled closer than eight over the final minutes as the TexAnns cruised to the win.
 
Bledsoe led the TexAnns with 18 points while O'Dell (13) and Wright (10) also hit double figures. Wright, despite being limited to just eight minutes in the first half, also grabbed 10 rebounds for her 59^th career double-double.
 
Thomas and Lowrance chipped in with nine points each while Travanti Downes (4), McGrath (3), Moore (2) and Ikpeaku Iwobi (2) rounded out the Tarleton scoring.
 
Tarleton shot 45 percent from the floor for the game, after going 54 percent in the second half. They were also 50 percent from downtown and 88 percent at the free throw line.
 
The TexAnns will play the winner of (2) Colorado Mesa and (7) Midwestern State tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the First United Bank Center.