JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – In the final regular season game of the season, Kendahl Adams surpassed the 1,000 point mark in her two seasons as a Blue Jays while Kallee Dowler broke the single-season record for three-pointers.
Dowler is now 77-208 on the year, breaking the previous record of 75 set in the 2012-13 season. Adams' 1,000 points in two seasons makes her the fastest player to 1,000 points in Blue Jay women's basketball history and makes her the sixth member of the 1,000 point club.
"MacMurray deserves a lot of the credit," Westminster Coach James Arnold said. "They've been playing really well lately, and we were fortunate to come on the road and pick up the win."
Westminster, which led throughout the contest, got on the board at the 9:38 mark of the first quarter on a Makayla Jackson 3-point basket off an Abbie Reece assist, and never looked back. The Blue Jays would lead 17-13 after a quarter and would take a 39-33 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
MacMurray found itself trailing the Blue Jays at the end of the third quarter, 55-44, but the Highlanders (3-22, 2-14) managed to cut Westminster's lead to single digits, 55-47, early in the fourth on a Shelby Fink layup and free throw. But the Blue Jays responded to close out the game with a 21-11 run to secure the win.
"Our effort in the second half was tremendous," Arnold said. "We got to the free-throw line, crashed the glass hard and did a better job of finishing around the rim. Our ladies also did a nice job of mixing defenses and stringing together a few stops."
In their last regular season contest, Westminster seniors Kendahl Adams and Mirrakohl Johnson both tallied double-doubles. Adams led the Blue Jays with 25 points and 11 rebounds while Johnson added 20 points and 10 boards. Adams' 25 points pushed her over the 1,000-point mark for her career in a Blue Jay uniform.
"MJ and Kendahl did what seniors do," Arnold said. "They willed their way to our 19th win of the season. Those two have done an amazing job of leading this team this season. I'm proud of them and this entire group for a tremendous regular season.
Kallee Dowler chipped in 10 points; Jackson contributed eight points and eight rebounds for the Blue Jays.
In a game that was statistically closer than the final score indicated, the Blue Jays shot 40 percent from the field (27-68) and 35 percent (13-22) from 3-point range, compared to 33 percent from the field (19-58) and 30 percent (9-30) from beyond the arc for MacMurray. Westminster shot 59 percent (13-22) from the free-throw line compared to 61 percent (11-18) for MacMurray. The Blue Jays outrebounded the Highlanders 50-40.
Westminster outscored MacMurray off the bench (13-7), in fastbreak points (30-18), second-chance points (16-7), assists (20-14) and turnovers (14-9).
Westminster (19-6, 12-4) returns to action on Thursday when the Blue Jays face Spalding University in the semifinals of the SLIAC Women's Basketball Tournament at Greenville University.
"We are fortunate to be in the tournament and excited to take a few days off and then start gearing up for Spalding," Arnold said.
