ODESSA, Texas - A career scoring night from Alex Adekunle lifted the Jets to an 84-81 come-from-behind win over Texas-Permian Basin Saturday afternoon at the Falcon Dome in Odessa, Texas. With the win, Newman clinches at least a share of the Heartland Conference regular season championship.

Texas-Permian Basin (18-7, 7-2 Heartland) claimed the early momentum in Saturday's contest, jumping out to a 10-4 lead in the first three minutes. Newman (18-7, 8-1 Heartland) scored the next four points, and drew to within two after a Tasha Cannon fast-break lay-up off a steal from Sam Soyez with 16:48 to play, but the Falcons responded with five-straight of their own to push the lead back to seven, 15-8, with 15:59 still to play in the opening half. UTPB led by at least five for the next five minutes, but a pair of Rhea Codio free throws capped an 8-2 run, and pulled the Jets back to within four, 26-22, at the 10:49 mark. Codio added a trey a minute later to cut the Falcon lead to three, 28-25, but UTPB put together a 12-3 run over the next six minutes to push the lead back to 12, 40-28, with 4:05 remaining on the first half clock. The Falcons maintained that distance over the final four minutes of the first half, and held a 46-33 lead at halftime.

Back-to-back jumpers from Cannon and Alex Adekunle pulled Newman back to nine, 46-37, in the first minute of the second half. Adekunle would become the star of the show over the final 20 minutes. The sophomore scored eight points over the first seven minutes of the second half as Newman began to chip away at the Falcon lead. She then converted an old-fashioned three-point play at the 11:10 mark to pull Newman to within five, 62-57. As if that weren't enough, Adekunle hit key lay-ups to pull Newman to within three on three occasions over the next six minutes, then drained a lay-up and a free throw to tie the game at 74-74 with 4:28 to play. But the Falcons refused to go down without a fight. UTPB held the lead into the final 30 seconds of the game, when a Cannon lay-up gave Newman an 82-81 lead with 20 seconds remaining. Codio added a pair of free throws with eight seconds to play as Newman pulled out the 84-81 win to clinch at least a share of their first Heartland Conference regular season title.

Alex Adekunle led all scorers, finishing with a career-high 30 points, and adding 11 rebounds for a double-double effort. Cannon was close behind, dropping 26 points on the Falcons, while Rhea Codio and Celeste Key added 14 and 10 point games, respectively. As a team, Newman shot a season-high 66.7 percent (34-51) from the field.

Miesha Blackshear led the Falcons with 17 points in the contest.

With the win, the Jets improve to 18-7 on the season, and 8-1 in Heartland Conference play. Newman will conclude its regular season Thursday, traveling to Goodwell, Okla., to take on the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies. Tip-time in OPSU's Oscar Williams Fieldhouse is slated for 5:30 p.m.