Box Score
BROWNWOOD, Texas – Howard Payne put itself in a position to host the 2011 Women's Basketball American Southwest Conference championship tournament Thursday night with a convincing 73-55 win over McMurry University at Brownwood Coliseum. If the Yellow Jackets defeat Hardin-Simmons at home Saturday, the team will play host to the Friday-Saturday tournament.
HPU used long-range shooting and stifling defense to take the victory. The Yellow Jackets nailed 10 3-point field goals and held McMurry to a 26 percent shooting effort to move to 17-7 overall and 14-6 in league play. McMurry falls to 15-9 and 13-7 respectively and the team moves to third place after its seven-game win streak was snapped.
Tiffany Warner and Brittany Roberson led a balanced scoring attack for HPU scoring 14 and 12 points respectively. Roberson added a game-high eight assists while Kalin Hanna led the team in rebounds with eight.
McMurry led by as many as nine points in the second half when Victoria Salazar hit a 3-pointer with 11:58 left to make the score 13-4. However, Howard Payne fought back, and when McMurry took a 26-25 advantage with 4:21 left on
Rikeita Thomas' layup, the Yellow Jackets went on a 10-0 run to lead by nine before taking a 35-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.
HPU carried the momentum into the second half beginning the period on a 12-5 run leading 47-33 before building a 20-point lead. McMurry hit just 7 of 36 shots in the second half and for the game took advantage of only 14 of 26 attempts at the free-throw line.
In the losing effort, McMurry's
Andi Lukaszewski had 11 points,
Keshia Collins had 10 points and seven rebounds while
Anna Berthel had six points, four rebounds and two blocks. If McMurry defeats Sul Ross State in Alpine Saturday, it guarantees itself the No. 3 seed in the ASC West Division heading into the tournament. Last season, McMurry was the No. 3 seed and advanced to the ASC Championship game before falling to Louisiana College in overtime.
Tipoff between McMurry and Sul Ross State is scheduled for 1 p.m.
