ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University's young women's basketball team completed the season sweep of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor with its 71-62 win at Kimbrell Arena. With the War Hawks (9-14, 5-10 ASC) win over the Crusaders (16-8, 9-6 ASC), McM has won three-consecutive games and four of its last five outings.
The last time that a McM women's basketball team won three or more in a row, came in the 2011-12 season. That year, the team had a four-game win skein from Feb. 2-16, 2012.
UMHB never led – the game was tied for 2:17 minutes – as McMurry took control 16-10 after one quarter. By halftime, McM had extended that advantage to 31-20.
In the second half, the Cru slightly cut into the margin in the third quarter. UMHB out-scored the War Hawks 21-18 in the stanza. In the fourth, McMurry put up 22 points compared to 21 for the UMHB.
McMurry's bench was outscored by a 25-11 margin, with all of the reserve point coming from post player
Madison Davis. Davis hit 4-of-5 from the field in 20 minutes of court time.
Meanwhile, McM got all of the offensive punch it needed from the starting trio of
Sham Hunter,
Skyler Reyna and
Haley Welch. Hunter narrowly missed her seventh double-double by booking game-leading totals in both points (20) and rebounds (9). Hunter was 9-of-12 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. She also had two assists and three steals.
Reyna, a freshman, had her seventh-straight double-digit scoring game with 17 points, going 5-of-19 from the field. Reyna sank 5-of-6 free throws, as well as 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. She pulled down eight rebounds and had a game-best four steals.
Welch, the lone senior on
Brittany Densman-Roes' roster, had 16 points. She hit 5-of-8 from the floor and was 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Welch pulled down seven boards.
Hunter and
London Weilert each contributed three steals in the win, as the War Hawks racked up 13 thefts as a unit.
Isabel Carrion was the only other McM player to score, booking five points.
McMurry will close out the 2016-17 season on Saturday afternoon, hosting Concordia University-Texas at Kimbrell Arena. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m.
