Box Score

LONGVIEW – McMurry University's women won their American Southwest Conference opener on the road with 59-50 victory over LeTourneau at Solheim Arena. Rikeita Thomas scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds while Victoria Salazar and Anna Berthel scored 11 and 10 points respectively to lead the visitors.

Each team turned the ball over 32 times but McMurry was able to take advantage by outscoring the YellowJackets 28-20 in the paint, out-rebounding the home team 41-19, and LeTourneau hit just 20 of 36 shots from the free-throw line.

McMurry led by as many as18 points in the second half, and LeTourneau crawled back to within six points of the lead. After a 23-16 halftime lead, McMurry outscored the YellowJackets 25-9 in the first 14:34 of the second half to lead 52-34. However, LeTourneau fought back with a 13-1 lead capped by a free throw by De'Shante Thomas with 1:30 left to cut the lead to six. However, McMurry closed the final 90 seconds with a 6-3 run to hold the victory.

McMurry shot just 34 percent from the floor converting 19 of 56 shots, but LeTourneau managed just 33 percent at 14 of 43. McMurry turned LeTourneau's turnovers into 25 points while the YellowJackets scored 24 points off McMurry miscues.

Keshia Collins had a solid defensive game for McMurry with nine points and eight steals, she also grabbed six rebounds with five on the offensive side. In the losing effort La'Queda Davis had 15 points and five boards while Laura Hahn had seven points and seven rebounds respectively.

LeTourneau fell to 0-2 on the season and began ASC play with an 0-1 mark while McMurry improved to 2-1 and 1-0 respectively. McMurry heads to UT-Tyler Monday at 5:30 p.m. to resume conference play.