ABILENE, Texas -   The McMurry University women's basketball team scored a key America Southwest Conference West Division win by knocking off Concordia University-Texas, 71-56, at Kimbrell Arena. The victory helped the War Hawks improve to 8-6 overall and 6-2 in the ASC, while the Tornados fell to 6-9 and 2-5 in ASC games.
 
The win also set up a Saturday (2 p.m.) showdown on McM's home floor with ASC West leader Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Cru currently holds a one-game advantage on the War Hawks in the divisional race.
 
Against Concordia, McMurry was able to roll out to a 14-11 lead after the first quarter and upped its advantage to 10 points – 36-26 – at the half.  It was a third-quarter blitz, with McM out-scoring the Tornados 23-15, that created additional separation and iced the win.
 
And McMurry's ability to create some distance from the Tornados was in no small part due to the tandem of senior Sham Hunter and sophomore Skyler Reyna.  The duo took care of matters on both ends of the floor, with each finishing with a double-double.  Hunter had 15 points and 16 rebounds, hitting 6-of-10 from the floor. She also had a game-best four assists and made two steals.
 
Reyna knocked down 4-of-7 shots and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, finishing with 14 points. She also grabbed 10 rebounds, eight on the defensive end.
 
As a team, the War Hawks out-rebounded CUTX by a 40-32 margin.
 
In all, four McM players finished in double-digit scoring.  Joining Hunter and Reyna was junior guard Monica Jones' team-leading 16 point night. Jones buried three from beyond the arc, while also passing off for two assists. Sophomore Sarah Doherty added 11 points and also had two assists.
 
Isabel Carrion and Britney Beaver each chipped in five points.  Dominique Machuca and Chyna Washington added three and two points, respectively, to round out McM's scorers.
 
"I thought it was a great overall team effort," McM Head Coach Brittney Densman-Roes said. "We had two players with double-double and had a lot of players come off the bench and give us valuable minutes. It was a great team win.
 
"We weathered (CUTX) making runs at us. We executed the game plan perfectly. That's why we came out on top. I was very impressed with our team and our comradery and the way we won."