Mustangs down Texas Woman's 62-61
WICHITA FALLS, Texas - It was a battle all the way to the buzzer as the Midwestern State University Mustangs held on for a 62-61 Lone Star Conference South win over Texas Woman's University Thursday night at Gerald Stockton Court in D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
MSU (8-7, 1-2) snapped a three-game skid with the win that gave coach Shannon Burk his 119th career victory, to become the winningest coach in MSU history. It also gave the Mustangs their first LSC South Division win of the season.
TWU (8-8, 2-1) was handed it's first division loss of the season and second straight loss.
TWU controlled most of the first half, holding a six-point advantage most of the first stanza.
But the Mustangs closed the gap with a 7-0 run capped by a Sonya Calhoun-Courtney jumper with 55 seconds left to grab a 26-25 lead, before TWU's Margaret Wimbish scored with 33 seconds left in the half to give the Pioneers a 27-26 halftime advantage.
MSU looked like it would put the game away early in the second, with an Andi Richardson steal that led to a Kaylon Hodge layup to take the lead and then came the run.
MSU posted a 17-6 run over a seven-minute stretch to grab a 13-point, 50-37 lead as Andrea Buben buried a three-pointer from the corner.
The Pioneers answered it quickly with a Maggy Deweber a trey that started TWU's dominance of the next six minutes with a 19-4 run. Deweber gave the Pioneers the lead with a three to go up 56-54 with 4:52 to play.
The teams did not score for two more minutes when a steal by Hodge, tapping the ball to Calhoun-Courtney that resulted in a fastbreak layup to tie the game at 56-all with 2:22 to go.
MSU and TWU traded buckets, then MSU found the spot.
With 42 seconds to play, Brittni Burks got a feed from
Deweber was pinned on the sideline for a five-second violation, giving the Mustangs the ball. TWU fouled three times to get MSU to the line, where Burks made the first, but missed the second free throw for a 62-58 lead with 24 seconds to play.
The Pioneers worked the ball to Wimbish who took an off-balance three-pointer that bounced around the rim before falling with six seconds to play.
Wimbish fouled Hodge to stop the clock with 1.5 left, and when Hodge missed the front-end of the one-and-one, TWU could not get a shot away for a chance to win.
Calhoun-Courtney just missed a double-double by leading MSU in scoring with 21 points and seven rebounds with four assists and four steals. Buben buried four three-pointers on the way to 16 points with two blocks and Burks collected 13 points.
TWU was paced by Deweber with 15 points, while Wimbish double-doubled with 14 points and 12 boards.
MSU hits the road to face Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday. The game-time has been changed to 6 p.m. as the game will now follow the MSU men's game against the Javelinas in
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