Box Score ABILENE, Texas – There's no place like home for the McMurry University's women's basketball team, as it notched its first win of the season in its home opener by defeating Rogers State University at Kimbrell Arena. The contest was the Heartland Conference opener for both the War Hawks (1-4, 1-0 HC) and Hillcats (1-3, 0-1 HC), as well.

McMurry received a balanced scoring attack with three players in double figures. Senior Keshia Collins led the way by pouring in 21 points on a 6-for-11 shooting effort from the field and was also 8-of-10 from the free throw stripe.

Collins also had a team-high seven rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals, proving to be a problem for the RSU team on both ends of the floor.

Joining Collins in double digits was sophomore forward Ana Dominguez and sophomore guard Sierra Maykus, each with 11 points. Senior guard Tory Salazar had eight points and a team-leading four assists.

Junior transfer Tineka Lawson and sophomore forward Taylor Russell each corralled five rebounds. Dominguez and junior transfer Adijatu Disu had four boards, apiece. As a team, RSU out-rebounded the McM team by a 41-34 margin. 

McM led wire-to-wire in breaching the win column. Salazar opened the scoring with a layup and the War Hawks built a lead of as much as 11 points with 4:46 left in the game on a short jumper by Collins. There were three ties.

In a contest that was statistically close in most areas, the real difference came at the free throw line where McM was 18-of-23 (78.3 percent), while the Hillcats managed just 11-of-15 (73.3 percent) charity tosses.

McM committed three more turnovers than did RSU (21 to 18), but grabbed a narrow edge in team steals (11 to 10).

Points in the paint went to McMurry by a 26-22 count, but RSU had the upper hand in points off turnovers, tallying 26 (to 24 for McM). RSU had an 11-5 advantage in second chance points, but the War Hawks opened a decided gap in fast break points, 10-2.

Rogers State's Katy Harsen led all scorers with 27 points. Clarissa Cannon was the big gun in rebounds, with nine caroms.

"I was real pleased with the win," said McM head coach Veronica Snow. "You want to get that first win under your belt for the kids' confidence. I was real pleased about that.

"Somebody that really came in and played hard for us was Taylor (Russell). I think she made a huge difference for us when we needed a big play; she made them."

The War Hawks won't have long to savor the win as they will play host the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday at 1 p.m. in another Heartland Conference bout.