AUSTIN – St. Edward's women's basketball dropped the first of two home games this week, falling 59-51 to UT Permian Basin Thursday.

SEU was plagued by turnovers in the first half, committing 16 in the first two quarters. Despite the challenge, the Hilltoppers went into halftime tied 27-27 in large part thanks to the free throw line, capitalizing on 16 UTPB fouls and going 10-14 from the charity stripe.

St. Edward's regrouped at the break and turned up the heat defensively, holding the Falcons scoreless for the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter to lead 30-27. After that point, however, it was all UTPB after that as the Falcons rattled off 12 unanswered points to lead 39-30. D'AVIYON MAGAZINE broke the drought with a three from the wing, kickstarting a run to cut the deficit by the end of the frame.

UT Permian Basin was able to hold the Hilltoppers at arm's length in the fourth quarter, never allowing SEU closer then six points.

St. Edward's shot 32.5 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from three point range in the loss. CHARLI BECKER was the lone Hilltopper in double figures with 12 points. JAZMINE JACKSON and MORGAN GARY led on the boards with six rebounds each as SEU trailed 40-29 in rebounds.

The Hilltoppers fall to 2-5 on the season and 2-5 in the Lone Star Conference. The two teams tipoff again Friday at 3 pm to close the series.