UMHB women's basketball resumes winning ways in 71-60 win over McMurry

Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru

BELTON- The UMHB women’s basketball team reset and found its way back into the win column on Saturday afternoon, defeating McMurry, 71-60. The Crusaders outscored the Warhawks in the game’s final three quarters after McMurry jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, and led 11-9 after the first quarter.

The win moves UMHB to 12-4 overall, and 7-2 in the American Southwest Conference. McMurry, who has lost five straight, is now 8-7, with a 2-7 conference record.

“We’re trying to get their attention to drive home our message of, ‘We have to have consistent focus on what we’re doing,’” UMHB head coach Mark Morefield said postgame. “It started coming across in the second [quarter] and thought it was better in the third and fourth.”

After falling behind early, shooting just 33 percent from the field in the opening quarter, UMHB refocused and cut the deficit to one on Arieona Rosborough’s three-point play. The guard, who had a team-high 18 points in 28 minutes of action, was fouled as she converted on a layup, and that ignited an 11-2 run from the Crusaders, highlighted by three-pointers from Kenna Gibson and Lauren Baker as the clock ticked down to the six-minute mark of the quarter. Now in front 20-15, UMHB kept the separation for several minutes, before McMurry pulled back within a point on Emily Holland’s three-pointer with eight seconds left.

But UMHB did not go into halftime leading by just one point. Catalina Cortez connected on a long-range three at the buzzer, giving UMHB both momentum and a four-point lead at the intermission.

The Cru scored six of the third quarter’s first eight points, leading by a sizable margin, 48-39, as the fourth began. But once again the Warhawks charged back, cutting UMHB’s lead to just two, 52-50, on Destiny Matthews’ fast-break jumper. Gibson promptly responded with a three-pointer on UMHB’s ensuing possession and Jaycie Brisco connected on another less than a minute later. In a matter of 50 seconds, the lead was back to eight, as the Crusaders held on until the final buzzer, leading by as many as 15 with 1:12 left.

“We told the team,” Morefield said,”‘There are three things we’re looking for: consistent focus on the game plan and scouting report, finishing at the rim at a 75 percent mark, because in the last 4:30 of Thursday’s game, we were 5-for-11 in finishing at the rim. You can’t be that if you want to win at the level we want to win at.

“And the third thing we talked about was seeing a transfer of learning. We want to see a transfer of learning of what we practice, what we talk about, and what we watch on film.”

Morefield said the focus on those three things superseded his concerns about the margin of victory or individual stats entering Saturday’s contest. It was about the intangibles for his squad, ranked 20th in the nation, and in contention for the ASC regular season title.

“That’s really what today’s game was about,” Morefield said. “I didn’t care if we won by five, six, 30…it doesn’t matter. It was more about the intangibles of us being consistent on the message we delivered Thursday night in film and being consistent for the remainder of the year.”

Up Next

UMHB hosts Concordia (TX) at 1 p.m. on Jan. 21 in Belton. It will be the Cru’s 10th league game of the year.