ABILENE – The McMurry women's basketball team ended a six-game losing streak to Howard Payne on Saturday as McMurry topped the defending national champion Yellow Jackets 61-50 in an American Southwest Conference West Division game at Kimbrell Arena.
The McMurry women have now won seven in a row as they remain in first place in the ASC West standings. McMurry is 13-3 overall and 10-2 in conference play. McMurry returns to action at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday when they head to Belton to take on Mary Hardin-Baylor in ASC West action. UMHB is tied for second place in the ASC West as they are 10-6 and 9-3.
McMurry led for nearly the entire game against Howard Payne. The game was tied on two separate occasions and Howard Payne held its only lead in the game when the Yellow Jackets led 5-4 with 15 minutes left in the first frame. Other than that, McMurry played with the lead.
McMurry led by as many as 13 points in the first half (27-14) before taking a 10-point lead, 29-19, into halftime. Howard Payne started the first three minutes of the second half on a 6-0 run to only trail by four, 29-25.
The resilient Lady Yellow Jackets eventually tied the game at 37 with just 10 minutes left in regulation. But McMurry responded by going on a 10-3 run over the next three minutes to push its lead back to seven, 47-40, with seven minutes to go. From there, Howard Payne wouldn't get any closer than a five-point deficit the rest of the way as McMurry eventually won by the double-digit margin.
McMurry sophomore center
Anna Berthel finished with a team-high 16 points. Senior forward
Allison Nelson added 11 points, while senior guard
Dominique Brown scored seven points, dished out a game-high 10 assists and grabbed six rebounds for McMurry.
The loss drops Howard Payne to 12-5 and 8-5. The Lady Yellow Jackets are currently in fourth place in the ASC West standings. It had been nearly two years since McMurry had beaten Howard Payne as the previous last victory for McMurry over the Yellow Jackets was a 61-60 home victory on Jan. 27, 2007.
