ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University women's basketball (7-11) will begin its second go-round versus the Heartland Conference foes, when it hosts St. Edward's University. Tip-off at Kimbrell Arena is set for 2 p.m.

The Hilltoppers currently sit in third place in the HC standings with a record of 11-7.

SEU holds a 4-3 edge in the all-time series between the schools. McM won the first meeting this season in Austin, 57-54. However, prior to that, the two teams had not met since the 1987-88 season and the Hilltoppers had won the last four match-ups.

In that last bout on January 5 of this year, McMurry found itself down early to the then-Heartland Conference leaders, 12-4. The War Hawks trailed at the half, 28-25 and eventually took their first lead (33-30) on a three-ball by Katlyn Tarbet.

The two teams battled down to the wire before the War Hawks held off SEU down the stretch. Keshia Collins led all scorers – as well as booking a double-double – with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Collins was 8-of-16 from the field before fouling out. She also had two assists and three blocked shots.

Jamie Wilson narrowly missed matching Collins' feat, grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds and scoring eight points. Rikeita Thomas had 13 points, hitting 4-of-5 free throw attempts. M.J. Vickers had three of her team's five steals in the game.

Dawn Kiel and Maddie Wheeler lead the Hilltoppers' scoring threat, averaging 14.6 and 13.9 points per game, respectively. Stephanie Dekkers is at 8.7 p.p.g. and leads her team in assists at 4.6 assists per game, along with 1.8 steals per game.

Kiel ranks fifth in the Heartland scoring race.

Erika Rousculp has come off the bench in 16 of her 18 appearances, but leads St. Edward's team in rebounds (6.8 rebounds per game), blocked shots (15) and field goal percentage (.567).

SEU leads the Heartland in scoring defense, allowing an average of just 60.7 p.p.g. to its foes. The Hilltoppers are also tops in free throw shooting, sinking 72.5 percent. St. Edward's is also second in both three-point field goal percentage (32.1) and three-point field goals made per game (6.2).

The War Hawks enter the game after a tough loss to UT-Permian Basin (56-54) last Saturday.

Collins is averaging 13.0 p.p.g. and is shooting 80.0 percent from the free throw stripe. Collins also has her rebound average at 6.0 r.p.g., while amassing 18 blocks, 27 assists and a team-high 58 steals.

Collins is 10th in Heartland scoring.

Thomas is second in scoring on the club at 9.1 p.p.g.  Claire Bruffey tosses in 6.2 p.p.g. off the bench for McM head coach Dr. Veronica Snow. 

Vickers (5.8 p.p.g.), Tory Salazar (4/7 p.p.g.), Wilson (4.6 p.p.g.) and Jaryn Koenig (4.2 p.p.g.) all average more than four points and better than 17 minutes played per game of court time.

The McMurry team tops the league in three-point field goal defense (27.2 percent) and is second in blocked shots (4.0 b.p.g.).