BOX SCORE

Abilene, Texas – Rikeita Thomas scored 26 points and dished out five assists in leading McMurry to an 83-51 win over Concordia University Texas in American Southwest Conference women's basketball action on Thursday, Feb. 10 at Kimbrell Arena.

The beginning of the game stayed tight and featured three ties and one lead change. Margaret Milling stole the ball twice and finished at the other end with a layup each time to put the Tornados ahead by a 4-2 score before field goals by Lashanda Luckey and Tiesha Martin gave the visitors an 8-4 lead just 3:24 into the game.

McMurry (14-8, ASC 12-6), however, used an effective 1-3-1 zone defense against the Tornados and answered with a 15-2 run by not allowing the visitors to make a field goal for almost eight minutes before Martin broke the drought with a good jumper at the 8:48 mark to make it 19-12. Thomas, who netted 18 points in the opening 20 minutes, and Jordan Stansell each hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left to give the hosts a 43-22 advantage at the break.

Concordia, which struggled to get the ball inside against McMurry's zone, came out stronger in the second half and scored the first four points of the stanza on layups by Luckey and Shamika Singleton while keeping the hosts off the scoreboard for nearly four minutes. However, the 19-point halftime was too much for the visitors to overcome.

A conventional three-point play by Preciours Williams gave McMurry its largest advantage of the game at 82-46. Concordia came as close as 32 on two occasions with Alex O'Neal producing the final score by making one of her two attempts at the line.

Deja Thomas led Concordia with a team-leading 10 points off the bench. Martin fell just shy of her second double-double with nine points and nine boards, while Dominique Mayberry added nine points and Milling recorded five steals. In addition to Thomas, who netted her 26 points by shooting 8-for-10 from the field and the line, McMurry also got strong contributions from Keshia Collins and Anna Berthel. Collins finished with 18 points, four steals and two blocks, and Berthel registered 10 points, three steals and three blocked shots.

Concordia (12-9, ASC 11-7), which fell into a tie for fourth place with Mary Hardin-Baylor, will visit Hardin-Simmons on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 1:00 p.m. The Cowgirls remain in first place by one game despite dropping a 69-63 decision to the Cru earlier in the evening.