AUSTIN – BELLA MUSCOREIL and MORGAN GARY delivered big performances, and the rest of the St. Edward's women's basketball team made clutch play after clutch play in the fourth quarter to defeat the Western New Mexico University Mustangs 64-57.
The first half between St. Edward's and Western New Mexico turned into a battle of the bigs, pitting the Hilltoppers' Muscoreil against the Mustangs' Diamond Moore.
Muscoreil sparked the Hilltoppers off the bench with 12 first-half points, scoring six in each quarter. The 6-foot-3 center provided structure and scoring, working as a pressure release valve at the elbows with a silky midrange jumper, getting point-blank shots inside, and serving as a facilitator, moving the ball from one side to the other to give the offense its current.
St. Edward's succeeded with its double-post lineup, pairing Muscoreil with starting center SAMMIE DUFEK to gain an advantage in the interior.
Western New Mexico countered with a quartet of 3-pointers in the first half on five attempts, including a pair of big 3-pointers from Sydney Wright against the shot clock over the top of strong closeouts. The outside shooting opened space for Moore, who used an assortment of crafty pivots and step-throughs from the post to find angles for flip shots and layups for 11 first-half points on 4-for-7 shooting and a 3-for-7 performance from the free-throw line to put Western New Mexico up by as much as nine.
Reserve guard ISABEL LANGENBERG balanced Muscoreil's inside work with a pair of 3-pointers, including a deep shot with six seconds remaining in the half to keep the Hilltoppers within arm's length, trailing 31-27 at the break.
St. Edward's opened the second half on a tear, forcing turnovers and working in transition and with ball movement for a 10-4 run to take the 37-35 lead and force a timeout with 6:33 remaining in the quarter.
JAYDA RUFFUS-MILNER opened the second half with back-to-back euro step layups, scoring on a beautiful three-pass sequence, and in transition, MORGAN GARY hit a pair of free throws, and Dufek scored on a hard cut inside.
Both teams exchanged baskets before MORGAN GARY closed the quarter strong with a trio of layups inside, driving hard and spinning away from pressure. The Hilltoppers closed the quarter on a 12-8 run, hitting all five of their shot attempts to lead 49-45 heading into the fourth quarter.
Western New Mexico opened the final quarter on a 5-0 run to retake the lead, taking advantage of missed free throws and a Delaney Cook 3-pointer. The Hilltoppers settled the offense by going inside to Muscoreil, who drew a foul and split her free throws to tie the game. Ruffus-Milner followed with a sharp pivot and up-and-under off a drive to give the Hilltoppers the lead for good.
LAUREN CATHERMAN made a trio of timely defensive plays within a short time span, shooting the gap on an entry pass for a steal, using her opponent's momentum against her by pulling the chair on defense and sending the Mustang tumbling out of bounds for the turnover and forcing a travel with a defensive rotation so sudden it bordered on teleportation.
Dufek gave the Hilltoppers some breathing room with a baseline jumper early in the fourth and had two key second-half blocks, turning away a layup as time expired in the third quarter and another block in the fourth. Ruffus-Milner blocked a shot on one end and drew a foul while collecting an offensive rebound on the other, hitting both free throws.
Muscoreil, Gary, and Ruffus-Milner scored 13 points each on a combined 16-for-24 shooting. Gary added seven rebounds and teamed with Ruffus-Milner for two steals each. Moore led Western New Mexico with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
St. Edward's improves to 3-5 with a 1-1 conference record. The Hilltoppers will travel to Wichita Falls, Texas, to play Midwestern State (1-6) on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 4:00 p.m.
