ABILENE, Texas – McMurry got a little bit of breathing room in the American Southwest Conference West Division when its 62-57 win over Hardin-Simmons gave the team a two-game lead over the Cowgirls Monday night at HSU's Mabee Complex.
The Cowgirls trailed by eight points at halftime and spent the entire second half trying to crawl back in, but the closest the home team would get would be within five points of the lead. McMurry's win put the team at 12-7 overall and 9-6 in ASC play, which is good for fourth place.
McMurry will need to remain at least as high as fourth place to make another trip to the ASC Postseason Tournament. HSU's loss moved the Cowgirls to 10-9 overall and 7-9 in league play putting them two games back in fifth place.
In the first half
LaPorsha Alexander was on fire scoring 16 of McMurry's 33 points on 8 of 9 shooting. As a team, McMurry shot 15 of 33 in the first half and the defense forced HSU into 10 turnovers, which McMurry turned into eight points.
In the second half, the Cowgirls outscored McMurry 32-29 but could only cut the lead to five points on three different occasions. With 2:18 left in the game, Popelar hit a layup to make the score 58-53 in favor of McMurry. However, the visitors countered with layups from Alexander and
Amanda Peters to extend the lead back to nine points.
Popelar hit another jumper with 47 seconds remaining to make the deficit seven points. Then, McMurry, on two consecutive occasions missed the front end of one-and-one free-throw opportunities, however, the Cowgirls didn't capitalize on either missed free throw by McMurry and missed its last two field goal attempts. Bo Warm added a jumper with seven seconds remaining for the final bucket of the contest for HSU.
Alexander continued her strong offensive play off the bench finishing with 20 points and five rebounds.
Anna Berthel was one rebound off a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds and Peters added an all-around game with eight points, five rebounds and four assists.
As a team, McMurry shot 44 percent thanks to Alexander's 10 of 16 effort and Berthel's 6 of 12 performance. Not only did the McMurry defense force HSU into 17 turnovers, but the team had just 10 of its own, which was a season-low for the team.
In the losing effort, Hardin-Simmons shot 40 percent from the floor and had three players in double figures with Alexis Popelar leading the Cowgirls off the bench with 17 points while Lindsey Newcombe and Angela Newcombe each finished with a dozen. Lindsey Newcombe finished with 10 rebounds and three blocks to compliment her double-double.
Though Monday's game was just five miles from McMurry's campus, the team will continue its road trip Thursday to Belton to play Mary Hardin-Baylor at 5:30 p.m. UMHB defeated McMurry 80-73 in Abilene Thursday and is the ASC West Division leader with a 12-3 league record.
