ABILENE, Texas -  McMurry University women's basketball will finally break into American Southwest Conference West Division play this week, taking to the road for a pair of games at Concordia University-Texas and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The War Hawks (4-11, 1-5 ASC) face the on Thursday (5:30 p.m.) in Austin and then travel to take on the nationally-ranked Crusaders on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m.).
 
McMurry will be looking to snap a two-game skid, after winning three of its previous four games before that. The War Hawks are coming off of a pair of road setbacks last weekend to ASC East foes No. 12/13 East Texas Baptist University (48-79) and LeTourneau University (75-79).

 
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SCOUTING THE TORNADOS:  Concordia Tornados (7-8, 3-3 ASC) is currently tied for second place in the ASC West Division. CTX is on a four-game win streak going back to December 17 when it last lost to Ozarks. Kaycie Dunkerley and Payton Berger lead the Tornados offense at 18.2 and 13.9 points per game, respectively. The duo also top the team in rebounds, with Berger at 7.7 r.p.g. and Dunkerley at 6.0 r.p.g.
 
LAST TIME OUT VERSUS CTX:  Last season, McM split its games versus CTX, winning in Abilene (71-56) and losing on the Tornados' home floor (65-67). In that second meeting, the War Hawks tied the game at 65-65, thanks to a pair of Skyler Reyna free throws with 21 seconds remaining. But any McM hopes were dashed when CTX got a long-range jumper from Jaela Dejean with two seconds remaining on the fourth quarter clock. A turnover on the inbound pass kept McM from a final desperation shot. The McM bench chipped in 40 of the War Hawks' 65 points.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS:  The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (14-1, 6-0 ASC) broke into the top-10 in both major NCAA III polls, ranked No. 7/9 (and will take on Hardin-Simmons prior to its bout versus McM). The ASC West leaders are the only ASC team in either division with an unblemished conference record. UMHB suffered its only loss of the year, overall, to No. 2-ranked Thomas More College. The Cru has three players averaging in double-digit scoring: Hannah Holt (15.9 p.p.g.), Kendall Rollins (14.3 p.p.g.) and Alicia Blackwell (11.2 pp.g.). Ashley Caldwell has an ASC-leading 22 blocked shots off the UMHB bench.
 
LAST TIME OUT VERSUS UMHB: Last season, the two clubs split the meetings. McMurry topped UMHB in Abilene (68-63), but lost the return trip to Belton (77-94). In that loss, the one bright spot for McM was on the glass, where it out-rebounded UMHB, 40-38, including doubling up on the Cru on offensive boards (18-9). The War Hawks converted their offensive rebounds into 23 points on second-chance points. Reyna led McMurry by scoring a career-high 27 points, thanks to an 11-for-22 night from the field. Reyna also tallied a career game-best four three-point baskets made (4-8).  She also hauled in 12 rebounds for her 11th double-double game of the season and ninth in the past 10 games. 
 
GLASS CLEANER:  McM junior Skyler Reyna pulled down the 500th rebound of her career on December 3 at Ozarks. In her career, she now has 572 rebounds and is averaging a team-leading 9.8 r.p.g. this year.
 
BIG SKY: Thus far in 2018-19, Skyler Reyna notched her 800th career point on December 20 versus UT-Dallas, as well as her 700th career point at Houston Baptist (Nov. 11). She currently sits at 857 total career points, averaging a team-leading 11.8 p.p.g. this season.
 
BALANCING ACT:  In all, McM has a total of eight players averaging better than 5.0 points per game this season.

SHOOTING STAR: Freshman Savannah Johnson is shooting a team-leading .505 (51-101) in her first collegiate campaign.
 
JOHNSON & JOHNSON:  Twin sisters Savanah and Autumn Johnson are averaging a combined 12.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, shooting 46% from the field for the War Hawks.
 
SEEING DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Skyler Reyna has 7 double-double games, thus far, in 2018-19. In her career, Reyna has 26 double-double games (including three in the past four contests).
 
CARRY ON, CARRION: Junior guard Isabel Carrion leads McM in assists, averaging 3.2 "helps" per contest. She also contributes 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Carrion matched her single-game career-high with eight assists versus Covenant.
 
AMONG THE ASC LEADERS: Individually, several War Hawks rank among the ASC statistical leaders: Scoring- Skyler Reyna (13th); Savannah Johnson (27th); Rebounds- Skyler Reyna (2nd); Field Goal % - Savannah Johnson (7th); Assists- Isabel Carrion (10th); Free Throw %- Skyler Reyna (13th), Brittany Rodgers (t.14th); Steals- Dominique Machuca (t.12th); 3-Point field Goals Made- Dominique Machuca (11th); Blocked Shots- Sarah Doherty (6th); Assist/Turnover Ratio- Isabel Carrion (7th).
 
NEXT WEEK FOR McM: The War Hawks will return home for the first time in 2019 to host Sul Ross State University on Thursday (Jan. 17) at 5:30 p.m. and Howard Payne University on Saturday (Jan. 19) at 1 p.m.