by McPHERSON, Kan. — The No. 25 ranked Haskell Indian Nations University women’s basketball team improved to (3-1) overall with an 80-45 win over McPherson College on the opening night of the McPherson Classic on Friday.
Haskell hit early from 3-point range, using threes from Tyler Sumpter, Ember Sloan and Gia Davis to fuel an 11-0 run that turned a 6-6 tie into a 17-6 lead late in the first quarter. McPherson closed the quarter with a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to nine at the quarter break. Sumpter finished with nine of the Indians’ 17 points in the frame and pulled down three rebounds.
The Lady Indians continued to pad their lead in the second and third quarters, totaling 42 points while holding McPherson to just 18 – nine in each quarter – to take a 59-26 lead into the final stanza.
The Bulldogs were able to keep pace in the final quarter, scoring 19 points to Haskell’s 21, but were never able to cut into the lead.
The Indians shot 44.9 percent (31-of-69) from the field and 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from 3-point range while collecting 24 steals off 29 Bulldog turnovers. Cerissa Honena-Reyes led all players with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. She was also 6-of-11 from three point range and had three assists and three steals. Sumpter added 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, pulled down a team-high-tying six boards and had four steals. Tinaya Murphy added eight points off the bench, while Gia Davis had seven points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
McPherson was limited to 30.6 percent shooting, finishing 15-of-49 from the field. The Bulldogs also made just five of 21 3-pointers (23.8 percent) and were 10-of-19 at the charity stripe (52.6 percent).
Haskell will have a short turnaround as the play Kansas Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon then they return home to Lawrence, Kansas on November 8th to play Hastings College at 5PM in Coffin Sports Complex.
