Box Score
BROWNWOOD, Texas – UT-Dallas jumped on McMurry early in the second half and held on for a 63-49 victory in the American Southwest Conference Tournament quarterfinals round at Brownwood Coliseum. After carrying a four-point halftime lead, the Comets outscored McMurry 16-4 in the first 7:13 of the second half to aide in the victory.
During the second halt run, UT-Dallas hit three of its four second-half 3-pointers on four attempts to prople the Comets to a 16-point lead. UTD led by as many as 19 points near the end of the game and McMurry was never closer than within 12 points of the lead in the final 11:41 of the contest.
Tawni Ichimura scored 17 points for the Comets while Tarneisha Scott had 10 points and 11 rebounds to lead UT-Dallas. Lyndsey Smith had 11 points and Brittany Houston added 10 as the Comets shot 42 percent from the floor.
The Comet defense stole the show, however, in head coach Polly Thomason's 100th career victory, UTD held McMurry to a season-low in points and field goals attempted at 46. UTD scored 23 points off 19 McMurry turnovers.
For McMurry, in the losing effort,
Keshia Collins had 16 points while
Anna Berthel finished with six points, three rebounds and four blocks. McMurry shot just 33 percent from the floor on a 15 of 46 effort.
“I think we didn't execute offensively very well,” said McMurry head coach Veronica Snow. “I thought the effort was there, and the defensive effort was great. We just didn't do what we needed to do to win offensively.”
In addition for Snow, other than making an early exit in the tournament was the tough task of bidding farewell to five seniors. Berthel,
Erica Rawls, Precious Willliams,
Jennifer Wells and
Jordan Stansell all played their final games. Rawls, Wells and Stansell were among Snow's first recruiting class since taking over the program four years ago in 2007.
“The five seniors have been the type of group that have made an environment on our team of truly being a family. They have been the people who help tutor, who hold teammates accountable, and push them on the basketball floor,” said Snow. “It's been amazing to watch all of their leadership abilities, and they have different talents on basketball floor that compliment each other. They did whatever they could to help the team, and we're going to miss them.”
McMurry's season ends with a 16-10 record while UT-Dallas advances to the ASC semi-finals round with a 21-5 record.
