Box Score

For the second-straight week the battle of the top-10's ended in favor of Howard Payne. The No. 2 Lady Yellow Jackets extended its win streak over No. 9 McMurry to four games with a 56-51 victory Thursday at McM's Kimbrell Arena. HPU outscored McMurry 12-7 in the final 6:03 and the Lady Yellow Jackets hit eight of their last 10 free throws during the stretch to help seal the game.

Howard Payne's all-American Meia Daniels scored 23 points in the victory that helped the Yellow Jackets remain unbeaten on the season at 20-0. Daniels struggled from the floor but hit 13 of 14 attempts from the free-throw line despite a 4 of 17 shooting effort from the floor. HPU's Stacey Blalock who was the hero in Feb. 2's win over McMurry was the only other player in double figures for the Yellow Jackets Thursday with 12 points.

McMurry's all-American Tarra Richardson had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead McMurry. Maigen Sawyer had 10 points and Allison Nelson had seven points and seven boards in the loss.

HPU trailed at the half by two points and McMurry led by as many as six points in the second half. However, the Yellow Jackets were able to take advantage of 22 turnovers by McMurry and turned the miscues into 19 points.

Though McMurry out-rebounded the Lady Yellow Jackets 44-32, the home team only had nine second-chance points Thursday night. Neither team shot well; McMurry was 36.2 percent from the floor for the game while HPU shot just 77.4 percent for the game.

Daniels' ability to get to the free-throw line carried over to her teammates: HPU shot 77.4 percent from the line connecting on 24 of 31 attempts. McMurry only got to the line 15 times and made just seven.

McMurry fell to 17-3 overall and dropped to 14-2 in the American Southwest Conference. Along with its 20-0 overall record, the Lady Yellow Jackets are 16-0 in league play after Thursday's game.

Sul Ross State comes to town Saturday after McMurry defeated the Lady Lobos by 19 points Saturday in Alpine. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.