MARSHALL, TX - On Friday, March 7th, McMurry (21-5) faced off against Cal Lutheran (21-6), winners of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) at ETBU's Ornelas Gymnasium for the first round of the NCAA DIII Championships. Energy was high, with a great crowd atmosphere as the two teams squared off.
McMurry took the tip off but staunch defense led to only 2 points for either team in the first minute and a half off Aryanna Cleveland's layup. Following a back-and-forth, including three-pointers from Emily Holland and Helana Chadwick, McMurry took a 15-9 lead into the final minute of the first quarter. With 1:01 left on the clock, Kylie Flippin stood her ground and took an offensive charge from Cal Lutheran, negating CLU's made basket. Ashton Garner earned the final points of the quarter on a layup off an offensive rebound. Staunch defense leg to multiple miscues by Cal Lutheran, allowing McM to push out to an early 17-9 lead.
Kyie Flippin opened up action early in the 2nd quarter with a three-pointer to push McMurry to a 20-9 lead. Cal Lutheran pushed McMurry's defense and closed the gap to 23-15 before a bullet pass from Karrigan Parrot to Emily Holland led to another three-pointer for McMurry. With 6:03 left in the quarter, Kylie Flippin would draw another Cal Lutheran offensive foul, erasing the made three-pointer and keeping the score at 28-17. The War Hawks would outscore Cal Lutheran 9-3 over the remainder of the quarter to end the first half up 37-20 with help from two blocks from Ashton Garner and big shots from a collected War Hawks group.
The two teams would push each other back and forth to open the second half, and with five minutes left in the quarter, Cal Lutheran would complete a 10-2 run to bring McMurry's lead to ten points. But the War Hawks, from this point on, wouldn't let their shrink any smaller the remainder of the game. McMurry would go on a 9-4 run to conclude the 3rd quarter and push their lead to 15 with the score at 58-43.
The War Hawks would maintain their lead for the remainder of the game with clutch shots from Ashton Garner and Aryana Cleveland. Cal Lutheran would make one more attempt to claw back into the game with another 10-2 run in the final four minutes, but it would be too little too late. McMurry would close out the game with an 8-2 run capped off, with Emily Holland sinking four points in the final twenty seconds to end the game with a 79-63 score.
"I couldn't be more proud of this group," said head coach Drew Long, "I'm super excited for them and what they've been able to accomplish thus far."
Kylie Flippin finished with 21 points, including 5-8 from three. Emily Holland had 17 points with a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line, and Aryana Cleveland topped out at 13 points and three steals for the War Hawks.
The War Hawks will return to the court Saturday, March 8th at 7:15 p.m. to take on SCAC Champion Texas Lutheran (24-4) in the second round of the NCAA tournament. This will be the third meeting between these two teams, with McMurry having won both matchups against the Lady Bulldogs in the regular season. McMurry looks to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
