ABILENE, Texas - McMurry University women's basketball heads on the road for the final time in the regular season this week, visiting Howard Payne University and Sul Ross State University. The War Hawks will visit the Yellow Jackets Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tip with tipoff against the Lobos slated for 1 p.m. Saturday.
McMurry split its pair of home games last week, falling 88-57 to #6 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor before bouncing back with a key win over Concordia Texas, 71-57. The win over CTX kept the War Hawks in position for the fourth seed in the American Southwest Conference West Division, a half a game ahead of Sul Ross St.
NOTES
FOLLOW THE ACTION: Links to live statistics and video will be available on the McMurry Athletics web site: www.mcmurrysports.com
SCOUTING HPU: Howard Payne currently sits third in the ASC West Division at 8-13, 5-7 ASC, a game and a half ahead of the War Hawks. The Yellow Jackets have won three of their last four games led by sophomore guard Chelsey Harris, who is averaging 16.8 points per game on the season. Junior forward Anastasia Willis leads HPU with 7.0 rebounds per game and is second on the team at 10.0 points per game.
LAST TIME OUT VERSUS THE YELLOW JACKETS: Harris poured in a game-high 29 points to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 67-63 win in Kimbrell Arena on January 19. It was a back-and-forth affair which saw the War Hawks rally from five points down in the final minute to tie the game at 61 on a three by junior guard London Weilert. However, HPU would sink their free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
SCOUTING SRSU: McMurry is half a game ahead of the Lobos for the fourth seed in the ASC West, who enter the week 5-16, 4-9 ASC. The Lobos have lost their last two games after beating Concordia Texas on January 24. Junior guard Chandre Nunez leads the Lobos with 14.2 points per game, while freshman forward Jocelyn Roque averages 6.4 points and a team-high 5.5 boards per game.
LAST TIME OUT VERSUS THE LOBOS: The War Hawks won handily, 90-57, in their first meeting of the season. Junior forward Skyler Reyna led three War Hawks in double figures with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while senior guard Dominique Machuca and sophomore guard Brittany Rodgers added 17 and 14 points, respectively. Three other players contributed nine points in the win.
EYES TO "THE SKY": McMurry University junior forward Skyler Reyna has hit several career milestones already in 2018-19, including:
500th career rebound 12/3/18 at Ozarks
600th career rebound 1/17/19 vs. Sul Ross State
Current career rebound total 653
700th career point 11/11/18 at Houston Baptist
800th career point 12/20/18 vs. UT-Dallas
900th career point 1/17/19 vs. Sul Ross State
Current career points total 969
Reyna needs just 31 points to be just the 10th player to score 1,000 or more points in program history.
BALANCING ACT: In all, McM has a total of seven players averaging better than 5.0 points per game this season. Additionally, seven players average more than 2.0 rebounds per game.
SHOOTING STAR: Freshman Savannah Johnson is shooting a team-leading .469 (69-147) in her first collegiate campaign.
SEEING DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Skyler Reyna has 13 double-double games, thus far, in 2018-19. In her career, Reyna has 32 double-double games.
HELPING HANDS: Junior guard Isabel Carrion leads McM in assists, averaging 2.9 "helps" per contest. She also contributes 6.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Carrion matched her single-game career-high with eight assists versus Covenant (12/29/18). She has at least two assists in 19 of the 22 contests.
AMONG THE ASC LEADERS: Individually, several War Hawks rank among the ASC statistical leaders: Scoring- Reyna (12th/13.2 ppg), Doherty (19th/10.8 ppg); Rebounds- Reyna (2nd/10.1 rpg); Field Goal %- S. Johnson (8th/.469); Assists- Carrion (12th/2.9); Steals- Machuca (15th/1.6); 3-Point Field Goals Made- Doherty (10th/1.7 pg), Machuca (14th/1.5 pg),; Blocked Shots- Doherty (9th/0.8 pg).
NEXT WEEK FOR McM: The War Hawks will close the regular season with the second half of the Crosstown Showdown when they face Hardin-Simmons University at 1 p.m. February 16.
