DENTON, Texas - Aqueelah Watkins just wasn't going to let her team lose Saturday afternoon at Kitty Magee Arena.

The 5-11 junior scored 21 of her game-high 24 points in the second half to lift Midwestern State to an 80-78 Lone Star Conference crossover win over Texas Woman's University.

The logic was pretty simple coming out of halftime for Watkins, who delivered her second-straight 20-point performance and second double double in three games as she also snared a game-high 13 rebounds.

"I knew I needed to pick it up because my team needed me," Watkins said.

The Mustangs clawed back from a 14-point deficit with a minute to go in the first half and had the game tied on Nolisha Markham's turnaround jumper with 38 seconds to play.

It appeared Midwestern was in good hands when sophomore forward Savannah Carver stepped to the free throw line with 5.8 seconds to go after she was fouled slashing her way to the basket.

But the 80-percent free throw shooter missed consecutive free throws before before Watkins went high to snatch the rebound, then hit a turnaround jumper from the baseline to give MSU the advantage with 3.1 seconds to go.

"That's probably the biggest rebound I've seen in my whole life," MSU coach Noel Johnson said. "She's got the ability to get up and I knew that shot was going in."

Watkins finished with a stellar line of 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 10-of-14 from the line to go along with 13 rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist in 34 minutes of court time.

But Watkins job was merely to finish off what her teammates had started.

Senior guard Andrea Buben and sophomore forward Cierra Thompson combined for 23 of the Mustangs' 33 first-half points and played a key role in trimming TWU's 14-point bulge as the Mustangs scored the final eight points of the opening half in the final 41.7 seconds.

Thompson hit a pair of free throws before Buben canned her third trey of the opening half from the left wing and Markham completed a three-point play to pull the Mustangs within 39-33 at the half.

"It's amazing what we do when we execute," Johnson said. "Nolisha did a great job of reading the play on the inbounds play to give us momentum going into halftime."

The momentum continued into the second half as Midwestern tacked another 8-2 run onto the ledger and knotted the game for the first time at 41-41 on a pair of Thompson free throws with 16:10 to go.

Watkins played a key role helping MSU surge in front for the first time when her steal led to a driving layup by Carver before a block resulted in Buben's fourth triple to give the Mustangs a 69-64 lead with 5:15 to play.

"I don't know what to say about the ladies of Midwestern State," Johnson said. "They responded to runs that TWU made. I'm really proud of them. The heart of this team showed tremendously today."

Both Buben and Thompson finished with season highs off of the bench with 23 and 14 points respectively, while Markham finished with nine points and six rebounds.

Jessica Hanna paced Texas Woman's with 23 points before fouling out in 33 minutes.

The Mustangs, who improved to 6-7 and have now won four of their last five contests,  begin LSC South Division play Wednesday night against Angelo State. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Junell Center in San Angelo.

Texas Woman's slipped to 6-5 on the season.