Box Score
East Texas Baptist started out hot, but cooled off in the second half and No. 11 McMurry took advantage to go on to a 79-62 victory at Kimbrell Arena Saturday afternoon. Tarra Richardson had 27 points, 11 rebounds and five steals while Allison Nelson pitched in 20 points and seven boards for McMurry.
The Lady Tigers led by as many as 12 points in the first half, mainly due to solid 3-point shooting. Sade' Stewart played a large role in ETBU's early success with four first-half 3-pointers. The Tigers hit al seven of their 3-point field goals in the first half. Stewart paced ETBU in the losing effort with 25 points and four assists on 8 of 16 shooting.
However, it was McMurry that stole the show Saturday. The team shook off a poor first-half free-throw shooting performance (11-19) by hitting 13 of its final 14 free-throw attempts to help ice the Lady Tigers.
East Texas led 31-20 with 7:23 remaining before McMurry went on a 22-6 run to close out the first half. Tarra Richardson converted a 3-point play with 2:32 left in the first half to put McMurry up 36-34, and the team never trailed again.
Richardson hit 11 of her 15 free-throw attempts while Amber Horton did a good job of getting to the line and converting as well. Horton had 12 points and was 8 of 10 from the charity stripe. She also had six assists and four rebounds.
Nelson, who hadn't cracked double figures entering into Saturday's contest, was 9 of 15 from the field and hit two of McMurry's 3-pointers for the game. McMurry was also able to win the turnover battle as the Lady Tigers struggled with 15 compared to McMurry's eight.
McMurry has consistently kept opponents at a disadvantage with defensive pressure. The Lady Tigers shot just 33.9 percent from the field on the day. McMurry, however, shot a solid 44.8 percent from the floor, and the team may have been in the 50s, but struggled from behind the 3-point arc hitting only 3 of 15 attempts.
The contest was the American Southwest Conference opener for both squads. McMurry improved to 4-1 overall and are 1-0 in ASC play while ETBU fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in conference competition.
McMurry hits the floor again Monday night at 5:30 and will play host to LeTourneau.
