Officially off of the losing streak, back in the win column, and having earned a landmark victory to top last year’s season-long conference win total, Victoria Lopez and the Falcons had plenty of reason to take a step back and celebrate on Thursday night.

But they aren’t satisfied with just that.

“It feels good, but we’re still looking for more wins,” Lopez said.

The UTPB women’s basketball team got the ball rolling in that direction Thursday night, dropping Western New Mexico 77-59 at home, to snap a four-game losing streak for the Falcons and start the second go-around of conference play on the winning side.

Lopez scored a game-high 21 points, while Khali Pippins-Tryon added 16, Kayla Bretherton scored 11 and Sierra LaGrande pitched in another 10.

The win marks UTPB’s fourth in Lone Star Conference play, pulling the Falcons to 6-13 overall and 4-7 in the league. The Falcons finished last season 3-17 in conference.

“I think the positive message in there was, ‘Congratulations on beating what was done last year in conference play,’” first-year Falcons head coach Rae Boothe said of the team’s talk in the locker room after Thursday’s win.

“Now, let’s keep going. ‘You’ve got that win off your back.’”

Lopez knocked down four of seven 3-point shots, and after the win, said that fourth conference victory was big for her and other Falcons returners back from last year’s team — but that the Falcons want to push further.

“We’re just wanting to get rolling, starting with this win,” she said.

The Falcons limped to four losses to close the first half of league play, but played well in some of those defeats. UTPB took league-leading Texas A&M-Commerce to overtime in an 88-77 loss at home last week, then battled the defending Lone Star Conference tournament champion, Tarleton State, close for three quarters before falling 58-45.

Thursday, though, the Falcons finally got over the hump and back on the win column.

“It was definitely good for our confidence,” Pippins-Tryon said. “I feel like this win is just something we needed to get rolling into the second round of conference.”

Lopez struggled against Tarleton State, missing nine shots from the floor, but bounced back with a team-leading performance in Thursday’s win.

“I just wanted to stay aggressive,” Lopez said. “My teammates, they did a good job of getting me the ball open and just kind of get a feel for making those shots that I missed the last game.”

Meanwhile, for the third consecutive game, 5-foot-3 Falcons guard Jackie Perez hauled in a team-best in rebounds, this time pulling down nine boards.

“That’s my challenge to everybody else: ‘You’ve got to play harder,’” Boothe said.

“We need to execute better, we need to play harder, and everybody needs to fight like Jackie does on the boards.”

UTPB is set to host Eastern New Mexico on Saturday at home.

UTPB 77, Western New Mexico 59

WESTERN NEW MEXICO (0-19 overall, 0-11 Lone Star Conference)

Jade Botelho 8-13 3-5 19, Ciara Fields 6-11 4-8 16, Melody McLaughlin 4-6 4-6 12, Rachel Francisco 2-6 1-2 6, Takiyah Lopez 0-4 4-6 4, Jenika Padilla 0-4 2-2 2, Myla Woods-Brown 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 18-29 59.

UTPB (6-13, 4-7)

Victoria Lopez 8-14 1-3 21, Khali Pippins-Tryon 7-11 2-3 16, Kayla Bretherton 2-6 7-8 11, Sierra LaGrande 4-11 0-2 10, Jackie Perez 2-7 1-2 6, Jasmine Spriggins 2-4 0-0 5, Kristel Reid 2-3 0-0 4, Nakedra Burke 1-3 0-0 2, Alexandria Dockery 1-1 0-0 2, Heather Crittenden 0-0 0-0 0, Chynna Rivera 0-1 0-0 0, Brittani McCoy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-61 11-18 77.

W. New Mexico……. 18.. 12   15   14   —    59

UTPB………………….. 25.. 13   28   11   —    77

3-Point goals — Western New Mexico 1-11 (Rachel Francisco 1-3, Ciara Fields 0-1, Melody McLaughlin 0-1, Takiyah Lopez 0-3, Jenika Padilla 0-3), UTPB 8-24 (Victoria Lopez 4-7, Sierra LaGrande 2-8, Jasmine Spriggins 1-2, Jackie Perez 1-5, Khali Pippins-Tryon 0-1, Chynna Rivera 0-1). Total fouls — Western New Mexico 16, UTPB 25. Fouled out — Western New Mexico: Ciara Fields. Technical fouls — None. Rebounds — Western New Mexico 30 (Jade Botelho 10), UTPB 34 (Jackie Perez 9). Assists — Western New Mexico 10 (Rachel Francisco 4), UTPB 18 (Jackie Perez 4, Kayle Bretherton 4).

Lone Star Conference Standings

                                          Overall    Conference

Team                                 W      L      W        L

Texas A&M-Commerce… 14      5      10        1

Angelo State……………….. 13      4        8        3

West Texas A&M…………. 15      4        7        4

Tarleton State……………… 13      6        7        4

Midwestern State…………. 10      7        7        4

Eastern New Mexico…….. 10      8        6        5

Cameron………………………. 7    12        5        6

Texas Woman’s…………….. 7    10        4        7

UTPB……………………………. 6    13        4        7

Texas A&M-Kingsville……. 6    14        3        9

Western New Mexico……… 0    19        0      11

———

Jan. 25

Texas A&M-Commerce 76, Midwestern State 50

Eastern New Mexico 73, West Texas A&M 71

Tarleton State 86, Cameron 81

UTPB 77, Western New Mexico 59

Texas A&M-Kingsville 66, Texas Woman’s 59

Jan. 27

Cameron at Texas A&M-Commerce, 2 p.m.

Midwestern State at Tarleton State, 2 p.m.

Texas Woman’s at Angelo State, 2 p.m.

Western New Mexico at West Texas A&M, 2 p.m.

Eastern New Mexico at UTPB, 2 p.m.