Box Score
McMurry's era with Tarra Richardson finally has what it lacked – an NCAA Tournament win. After a sluggish start and a 16-4 deficit, McMurry's stars, Richardson and Maigen Sawyer put the team on their backs and led McMurry to a 71-67 victory over Trinity University in front of a crowd of 1,550 at Kimbrell Arena in Abilene. Richardson had 30 points, nine boards and five blocks while Sawyer had 12 of her 17 points in the first half to help McMurry re-gain control of the game.
It was another night of milestones for McMurry. Richardson grabbed her third rebound with 3:26 left in the first half to give her 1,000 rebounds for her career. She became just the seventh player in NCAA Division III Women's basketball history to have 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career.
Sawyer's 3-pointer with 2:33 left in the first period gave her 12 points and put her past the 1,000 point mark for her three-year career with the team. The senior actually had surpassed the 1,000-point mark earlier in the season; however, her first year of college ball was with Hardin-Simmons where she scored just 23 points. She now has 1,028 points through Wednesday's win for her career and 1,005 points as a McMurry basketball player.
Trinity's hot start was due to the Tigers nailing their first five shots and went on to start the game 8 for 10 from the floor. The great beginning for Trinity gave the team a 16-4 lead, however, McMurry charged back thanks to four first-half 3-pointers from Sawyer and entered halftime with a 37-34 lead.
To open the second half, McMurry built a 15 point lead when Erica Peters hit a shot on a set up from Dominique Brown to make the score 63-48 in favor of the home team. Then Trinity made another run that put a scare into McMurry by outscoring the team 19-6 over a period of 6:41. Krista Prato-Matthews hit a bucket with five seconds remaining to cut the lead to two points.
However, Amber Horton nixed any further hope of a miracle come back by nailing both free throws with four seconds left to put McMurry up four. Horton finished with 10 points and a game-high eight assists. Brown added five assists off the bench and set up the last two buckets for McMurry down the stretch.
Trinity's Matthews and Meghan Scholbe each had double-doubles for the Lady Tigers in the losing effort. Matthews had 16 points and 11 boards while Scholbe had 14 and 10 respectively. Rachel Snyder also had 12 points for Trinity. However, the team's 27 turnovers were too much to overcome.
Richardson reached the 300-block mark for her career as well Wednesday night. She need five blocks entering the game and she got all five to join an elite group of NCAA players who have scored 2,000 points, posted 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocks in their career. The NCAA Division I list included the likes of current and former NBA stars Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning and Derrick Coleman. After research it appears that Richardson is only the second woman in Division III history to accomplish the feat next to Ronda Jo Miller of Gallaudet University in Washington D.C.
With success comes responsibility and McMurry will have the responsibility of trying to knock off Howard Payne in Brownwood for the second round of the national tournament. Sunday, HPU beat McMurry for the fifth consecutive time and the third-straight time this season.
The Lady Yellow Jackets, at 28-0, received the only bye of the 63-team national field. McMurry will face HPU at Brownwood Coliseum Saturday night at 7 p.m. McMurry fans can purchase advance tickets Thursday in the McMurry athletics office after lunch.
McMurry's win gives them a 25-4 record marking the second-highest win total in school history. Before Wednesday night's victory, McMurry's last NCAA Tournament win was over Hendrix College, which helped them advance to the Sweet 16 in 2000.
