BROWNWOOD – Howard Payne closed the final three minutes of regulation on an 11-4 run to knock off the McMurry women in an American Southwest Conference West Division game, 62-54, Saturday afternoon at the Brownwood Coliseum. 

The loss drops McMurry to 18-5 overall and 15-4 in conference play; meanwhile, the win improves Howard Payne to 18-5 and 14-5 as they are in a tie for second place in the West Division with Hardin-Simmons.  McMurry remains in first place in the ASC West Division and they can claim the division title (and host the ASC Women's Basketball Championship) with road wins verses Texas Lutheran and Schreiner next week. 

Howard Payne held a slight 51-50 lead with three minutes left in the game before the Yellow Jackets closed the game on their 11-4 run to take the game.

In the first five minutes of the second half, the Yellow Jackets outscored McMurry 8-0 to open up a nine-point lead for Howard Payne, 33-24.  But McMurry responded with a 10-0 run of its own over the next three minutes to take a 34-33 lead with 12 minutes left. 

Howard Payne again responded with a run, this time a 6-0 stretch, as the Yellow Jackets led 39-34 with 11 minutes left.  From there, Howard Payne wouldn't relinquish the lead again but McMurry was always hovering around the Yellow Jackets until Howard Payne's late surge with three minutes left.  

Both teams struggled shooting in the fist half as Howard Payne shot 36 percent (8 of 22) from the field while McMurry mustered just a 31-percent effort (8 of 26).  Neither team had a significant advantage over the other in the frame and the Yellow Jackets took a 25-24 lead into the break. 

McMurry's smothering full-court defense forced 19 first-half turnovers for Howard Payne in the first half, but McMurry also was turnover prone in the frame as they committed 13 of them trying to break Howard Payne's zone defense.  Howard Payne also won the battle of the boards in the first half as they collected 10 more than McMurry did in the frame (23-13). 

For the game, Howard Payne shot 42 percent from the floor (20 of 28) compared to 35 percent for McMurry (17 of 49).  McMurry committed 25 turnovers in the game, while the Yellow Jackets turned the ball over 28 times.  Howard Payne also outrebounded McMurry, 37-28, for the game.

Sophomore center Anna Berthel led McMurry with her game-high 23 points and team-high seven rebounds.  Senior post Ashley Stephens was the only other double-digit scorer for McMurry as she finished with 10 points off the bench.