Sunday, February 9, 1997

McMurry women beat cross-town rival HSU

By TED DUNNAM / Assistant Sports Editor

When it came down to crunch time Saturday at Kimbrell Arena, McMurry University desperately wanted to get the ball into the hands of its seniors.

Trouble is, the Lady Indians don't have any.

Thus, McMurry did the next best thing, directing the ball toward juniors Sherry Kuzma and Sonya Papion. What resulted was renewed life and a thrilling 69-65 overtime victory against cross-town rival Hardin-Simmons University.

Kuzma and Papion combined to score McMurry's final nine points of regulation, forcing the overtime with three seconds left on Papion's two free throws.

Sophomore Macheic Crawford then took command, scoring McMurry's first five points of overtime and giving the Lady Indians a lead they would never relinquish.

Amazingly, HSU wasn't able to manage a field goal in the five-minute overtime.

"For three weeks, I've been telling the girls we've been doing so many things right that we were going to win a big game," Indian head coach Sam Nichols said. "I don't know if they believed it, but I did. I knew they were that close to winning.

"We started the second half with seven straight possessions where we didn't score, but we hung in there. I can't say enough about the girls' effort. You can't really single out any one person. They all contributed to this win."

Nellie Fowler scored HSU's final five points in regulation, including two free throws with 18 seconds left that gave the Cowgirls a 61-59 lead. However, Papion was fouled on McMurry's next trip up the floor with three seconds left.

She made the first free throw and HSU called time out. After returning to the floor, Papion made the second and HSU was unable to launch a shot in the remaining time.

In overtime, Crawford scored on a layup, hit an eight-foot jumper and made one of two free throws as McMurry quickly took a 66-61 lead by the 3:39 mark.

The Cowgirls tried to cut into the lead, but Michelle Shilling and Micky Davis each made only one of two free throws to trim the lead to 66-63.

Ogonna Merritt then made a 10-foot jumper for McMurry for a 68-63 cushion at the 2:19 mark.

Kathryn Otwell sank two free throws to pull HSU within 68-65 with 1:30 left. Kuzma made a free throw with 31 seconds left to put the lead at 69-65.

HSU tried several 3-point attempts in the closing 1:30, but all failed to find the mark.

"We didn't keep them off the boards and we missed free throws down the stretch," HSU head coach Julie Goodenough said. "We were ready to play today, we just didn't capitalize on our opportunities.

"They were double-teaming our posts and we had to rely on our guards to make shots and they weren't making them. With three losses, we've got to win out now and hope for some help.

"We have got to learn how to play on the road. That's been our downfall."

HSU had as much as an eight-point lead in the second half, but McMurry's defense wilted the Cowgirls. The Lady Indians outrebounded HSU 47-31 with Papion pulling down a game-high 12 boards.

McMurry also forced 41 turnovers and limited HSU leading scorer Michelle McLellan to just three points on 1-of-7 shooting.

Point guard Kuzma emerged as an unlikely offensive hero, scoring eight of her 10 points in the last 2:45 of regulation and overtime.

"I have no idea where those points came from," Kuzma said. "Just good passing, I guess. We knew if we played well, we'd have a shot at winning today.

"We've been in a slump and we had a long bus trip. We really didn't have a lot of momentum coming into this game. This win will definitely help us the rest of the way. This win tells us we're able to do it."

Nichols agreed.

"This is a shot in the arm for us," the McMurry head coach said. "We were scrambling on the perimeter, not wanting them to shoot the threes. We were really scrambling everywhere. It was a total team effort."

Crawford led McMurry with 14 points, Papion added 13, Dedra Williams contributed 11 and Kuzma added 10. HSU was led by Davis with 16 ponits, Otwell scored 14 and Fowler finished with 12.

HARDIN-SIMMONS (65) - Michelle Shilling 2-2 5-6 9, Kelly McClure 2-5 2-4 6, Kathryn Otwell 4-11 6-10 14, Pam Horton 0-3 2-2 2, Brooke McCasland 1-1 1-2 3, Michelle McLellan 1-7 0-0 3, Nellie Fowler 4-7 4-7 12, Micky Davis 6-12 5-6 16. Totals 20-49 22-33 65.

MCMURRY (69) - Dedra Brittain 2-3 0-0 4, Ogonna Merritt 3-11 0-0 6, Sherry Kuzma 2-7 6-8 10, Nya Wilson 1-3 0-0 2, KiKi Carthel 1-1 0-0 2, Macheic Crawford 5-12 3-4 14, Dusti Welch 2-4 1-1 5, Dedra Williams 4-10 3-7 11, Sonya Papion 4-8 5-6 13, Amy Anderson 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 25-64 18-26 71.

Halftime score - HSU 29, McMurry 28. 3-point goals - HSU 3-12 (McClure 2-4, Horton 0-2, McLellan 1-6), McMurry 1-6 (Merritt 0-2, Crawford 1-3, Welch 0-1). Total fouls - HSU 23, McMurry 24. Fouled out - Fowler, Anderson, Merritt. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - HSU 31 (Otwell 5, Davis 5), McMurry 47 (Papion 12). Assists - HSU 14, McMurry 17. Steals - HSU 11, McMurry 11. Turnovers - HSU 41, HSU 37. Records - HSU 12-7, 4-3; McMurry 9-11, 3-4.