SAN ANGELO, Texas – McMurry University women's basketball could not combat NCAA Division II Angelo State's advantage in both height and depth, falling 107-66 at the Junell Center. The win improved the Rambelles to 7-3, while the War Hawks are now 2-9 to close out their 2015 portion of the schedule.
 
ASU opened up an 11-4 lead within the first five minutes of the game. But a 7-0 run by the War Hawks was capped by a three-pointer from Sierra Maykus to tie it at 11-11 with 2:38 left in the opening period. 
 
A few seconds later, a trey from Haley Welch gave McM its first lead, 14-13. That was upped to 16-13 on a jumper from Chelsie Lail. It would prove to be the War Hawks only lead of the afternoon, however, versus the Lone Star Conference Angelo State squad.
 
McMurry trailed, 18-16, at the end of the first quarter. But after a solid opening period, the second quarter proved unfriendly for the visiting War Hawks. A 4:12 scoring drought by McM allowed the Belles to extend a 23-20 lead to a 40-20 cushion with 4:32 until the intermission.
 
The War Hawks would go into the halftime locker room down by a 53-29 score. ASU extended its advantage to 77-47 by the end of the third quarter, despite the best efforts of Taylor Russell. Russell had nine of her points in that period alone, but picked up her fourth foul late in the period and finished the segment on the McM bench.
 
With 8:41 left in the fourth period, Russell grabbed her 10th rebound of the game to give the senior her eighth double-double game of the year in 11 outings. Russell would finish the day with 15 points, to go along with her double-digit rebound total, hitting 6-of-10 from the floor.
 
Maykus also had 15 points – including two baskets from beyond the arc – to share the War Hawks' high scorer honors. Maykus also had four boards.
 
Sophomore Sham Hunter narrowly missed a double-double, tallying 13 points and nine caroms. Welch, a junior guard, added 11 points as McMurry's fourth double-figure scorer. Welch hit 4-of-9 from the floor and had the War Hawks' only other three-point bucket.
 
Lail's eight points and four for freshman Amye Templeton rounded out McM's scoring for the day.
 
McMurry will open 2016 play on January 4 at Belhaven University, with a 3 p.m. tipoff in Jackson, Miss.