FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University women’s basketball team (15-5, 10-4 RRAC) took a hard 61-58 loss to Wiley College (13-6, 9-5 RRAC) despite a late run at the Sid Richardson Center on Monday Night.

The Lady Rams and Lady Wildcats getting off to a rather morbid start, as neither team could find the net for nearly four minutes of game time. Finally the Lady Wildcats ended the drought with a Kayla Brown three pointer with 16:13 remaining in the first half, and the Lady Rams didn’t score their first bucket until Nicole Terral found Kristi Alexander for a jumper with 15:24 left.  

Texas Wesleyan trailed for most of the half, but stayed in the ball game, not letting the Lady Wildcat lead get out of hand.

Raven Alexander brought the Lady Rams within two points at 22-20 with a bucket from downtown, and a Kayla McCray put back tied the game at 24-24. Octavia Mullins gave Wesleyan their first lead with a layup with 1:30 left in the first half.  

Wiley College got the lead back to go into the break with a 28-26 lead.

Kristi Alexander gave Wesleyan a 30-29 lead with a layup early in the second half, but the Lady Wildcats marched out to a 10-0 run capped by a Chinwendu Mbah jumper to give Wiley a 39-30 lead with 14:37 remaining in the second half. 

The Lady Wildcats maintained a decent lead until the Lady Rams started chopping at the lead. Wesleyan then made a late charge starting with a McCray tip-in to make it a 56-54 Wiley lead with one minute remaining. Terral hit a huge three with eight seconds left to bring the Lady Rams within one at 59-58. Wesleyan had to foul on the ensuing possession, giving Wiley a 61-58 lead with four seconds left on the clock. Wesleyan had the ball stripped on the drive, but Aleshia Carruthers traveled with the ball after the steal with one second. The Lady Rams got it in to Terral on the inbound pass but with two defenders in her face was not able to send the game into overtime.

The Lady Wildcats outshot the Lady Rams 37.7 percent to 35.4 percent from the field. Wiley shot 40 percent from behind the arc while Wesleyan shot only 22 percent. The Wildcats shot 65 percent from the charity stripe to the Lady Rams 47 percent. 

Terral led the Lady Rams with 16 points, five steals, and four assists. Mullins tallied another double double with 12 points and 13 boards. Alexander put in 11 points for the Rams.

The Lady Rams head to Hawkins, TX to take on Jarvis Christian College on Saturday, February 4, at 5:30 p.m.