Box Score

ABILENE -- Senior guard Amber Horton finished with a career-high 30 points to help lead McMurry to a 79-75 win over Mississippi College in an American Southwest Conference game Monday night at Kimbrell Arena. 

The win pushes McMurry to 3-1 on the year and 2-0 ASC play; meanwhile, the Lady Choctaws fell for the first time this year as they are now 4-1 and 1-1.  McMurry returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 6, when they head to Tyler to take on UT-Tyler in another ASC tilt.  Tip time is slated for 1 p.m.

McMurry took its first lead of the game (7-5) at the 17:24 mark in the first half and they would never trail again the rest of the way.  McMurry's biggest lead in the first half was 14 points (31-17 at the 7:18 mark) and they lead by 13 points (39-26) with just 2:55 remaining until halftime. 

But the Lady Choctaws finished the first half on a 6-0 run to trim their halftime deficit to only seven as McMurry took a 39-32 lead into the break.

McMurry came out in the second half and went on an 8-2 run in the first three minutes of the frame to push their lead back up to 13 points (47-34).  But the resilient Lady Choctaws slowly fought their way back into the game as they only trailed by two points (60-58) with 8:37 remaining in regulation. 

McMurry responded, though, with a quick 6-0 run to rebuild an eight-point advantage (66-58) with 7:15 to play.  Mississippi College got within three points on three separate occasions the rest of the way, but McMurry always had an answer to nix a Lady-Choctaw comeback.  The last McMurry answer came with McMurry leading 78-75 with only six seconds remaining in regulation before senior guard Dominique Brown hit one of two free throws to make it a two-possession game and thus secure McMurry's win. 

Horton finished the game 12 of 24 from the field (including 3 of 5 from behind the arc) as she tallied a game-high and personal career-high 30 points.  Brown also had a stellar game for McMurry as she finished one rebound shy of her first career triple-double.  Brown scored 15 points, dished out a game-high10 assists and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.  Brown also added a game-high five steals to boot. 

Other top performers for McMurry included junior guard Amanda Peters, who finished with nine points off the bench; sophomore center Anna Berthel, who finished with eight points and six rebounds in just 15 minutes of playing time because of foul trouble; and senior forward Jabri Butler, who finished with six points and six rebounds.