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ADOPT A TORNADO NIGHT PREGAME PHOTOS

Austin, Texas – Shamika Singleton registered her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds in leading the Concordia University Texas women's basketball team to a 75-64 victory over McMurry on Thursday, Jan. 20 at the Concordia Field House. The Tornados have now won six games in a row for the first time since beginning the 1994-95 season with six straight victories to remain tied for second place in the West Division.

Concordia (9-6, ASC 8-4), which led 32-28 at the break, extended its lead to seven thanks to a Lashanda Luckey free throw followed by Singleton's layup. McMurry, however, fought back and took its first lead since holding a 26-24 advantage in the first half. Rikeita Thomas drilled two straight jumpers and converted a free throw to make it 41-39 in favor of the visitors with 14:01 left.

After tying the game three times, the Tornados used a 12-0 run over a 4:55 span late in the second half to take the lead back for good. Skylar Lott finished a pass from Christen McLee to tie the game at 58 before Alex O'Neal hit two free throws to give the hosts a 60-58 advantage with 5:32 remaining. Singleton then rattled off six straight, while O'Neal capped the run by making two more shots from the stripe to put the Tornados ahead by a 68-58 score and in control with just over a minute left.

“It was a good win for our program,” said first-year head coach Rusty Rainbolt, who served as an assistant at McMurry for the past two seasons. “We talked all week about this game and how it was going to be very physical and very tough, so this was a good win for us. We are excited to be where we're at.”

McMurry (8-7, ASC 6-5) was on fire to start the game, scoring seven straight points and jumping out to a 12-2 lead before the 16-minute mark. Victoria Salazar and Thomas each canned 3-pointers to fuel the early run.

However, Concordia fought back and tied the game three times before taking its first lead in the waning minutes of the period. Christen McLee made consecutive fastbreak layups to give the Tornados a 28-26 advantage with 3:05 left. Singleton and Mayberry followed with long jumpers to keep the hosts ahead at the break.

Singleton scored her 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and also went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to pace Concordia. She also added three steals. Margaret Milling added 15 points, shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line, and recorded another five steals to add to her league-leading total. Mayberry rounded out the Tornados' double-digit scorers with 14 and 10 points apiece, while both players had three steals. Luckey had a career-high six steals. McMurry, which turned the ball over 35 times, got 17 points from Thomas and 13 from Andi Lukaszewski.

Leading up to the victory, the squad honored the members of the "Adopt A Tornado" Program who were in attendance.

“That was fantastic (the Adopt A Tornado event),” added Rainbolt, who launched the program in early October as a way to give families the chance to build relationships with members of the CTX family. “We appreciate everything that these people have done for us. All of these adoptees have invested their time, money and resources and have given and developed great relationships with our program. It was a great night to honor them.”

Concordia will host Hardin-Simmons with first place in the West Division on the line on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 1:00 p.m. The Tornados could move into first place in the standings with a victory over the Cowgirls.

“Hardin-Simmons has a fantastic post player (Lindsey Newcombe),” stated Rainbolt, whose team is in the mix to host the American Southwest Conference Tournament at the end of February. “We're going to have to rebound and run in transition. The game is going to have to be up-tempo.”