Turnovers, rebounds leave TexAnns on short end at MSU

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Senior guard Kathy Thomas led Tarleton State Wednesday with 11 points and six assists. || Photo courtesy NATHAN BURAL/Tarleton

By BRAD KEITH

TheFlashToday.com

WICHITA FALLS (February 4, 2015) — Midwestern State had just climbed into the top 20 when the Mustangs lost at Tarleton State on January 15.

The Mustangs weren’t about to let it happen again. Not on their home court, and especially not with Tarleton struggling to take care of the ball and rebound.

Midwestern State had four scorers in double figures and used a 40-24 scoring advantage in the paint to knock off the TexAnns 72-57 at Ligon Coliseum Wednesday evening. MSU (16-3, 7-2) remains in second place a game behind West Texas A&M at the top of the Lone Star Conference standings, while Tarleton (12-7, 5-5) is tied for fifth with Texas Woman’s.

Senior guard Kathy Thomas led Tarleton State Wednesday with 11 points and six assists. || Photo courtesy NATHAN BURAL/Tarleton
Senior guard Kathy Thomas led Tarleton State Wednesday with 11 points and six assists. || Photo courtesy NATHAN BURAL/Tarleton

The Mustangs attempted 61 shots to Tarleton’s 47, thanks largely to a 35-28 rebounding margin and 22 Tarleton turnovers. MSU turned that into a 24-13 advantage in points off turnovers and a 15-2 margin in fast break scoring. The Tarleton 44.7 percent.

Dianna Jones scored 14 to lead everyone, while Lisa Hampton added 11 and became MSU’s all-time leading 3-point shooter with three on the night and 133 for her career. Andrea Carter doubled up with 10 points and 11 boards while Shatoia Gober also scored 10.


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For Tarleton, Kathy Thomas had 11 points and six assists while Ikpeaku Iwobi scored nine and collected six boards.

Midwestern used early runs of 9-0 and 10-0 to seize control, and kept Tarleton at arm’s length the rest of the way. The nine straight points overcame a quick 6-2 start by Tarleton – thanks to 3-pointers by McGrath and Thomas – and MSU led the rest of the way. The 10-0 push made it 29-18, and it wa 40-30 at intermission.

A 22-13 rebound deficit and 10 first-half turnovers caused Tarleton to attempt 11 less shots than Midwestern in the opening half. The TexAnns were 9-24 (37.5 percent) and MSU 16-35 (45.7). Tarleton kept it close most of the half – they were down just 19-18 before the 10-0 run – because of 3-point shooting. They were 5-7 from the arc with long balls by five different players, but went 0-2 from deep after intermission.

Notes: Midwestern leads the all-time series against Tarleton, 33-27…Tarleton hosts Cameron at 5 p.m. Saturday at Wisdom Gym, with a men’s game to follow at 7 p.m.


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