ABILENE, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team played solid defense and put the game away with a third quarter run as the Cru posted a 70-49 victory over McMurry University Saturday afternoon in Abilene. UMHB improves to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the win. The loss drops the War Hawks to 0-8 overall and 0-4 in the ASC on the year.
The Cru took an eight-point lead in the third quarter and the two teams traded early scores before UMHB took control. Six consecutive points from Allaira Jones helped key an 8-0 run to give the Cru a 16-point advantage at 44-28. The lead would grow to as many as 20 points and UMHB led 55-36 going into the fourth quarter. The Cru shot 64 percent as a team from the field in the period and held McMurry to just four field goals. UMHB held the War Hawks at bay in the final quarter with the lead growing to as many as 25 points before the Cru coasted to the win.
UMHB started slowly, scoring just four points in the first four minutes of the game. Hannah Eggleston’s jumper with 5:37 left in the opening period tied the game at six. That basket opened an 11-2 run as the Cru built a 15-8 lead and UMHB was up 15-12 going into the second quarter. The Cru stretched the lead to ten points on Madison McCoy’s jumper with 2:13 remaining in the first half and UMHB led 29-21 at halftime. The Cru held the War Hawks to 26 percent shooting from the field in the opening half and the two teams combined to go just 1-15 on three-point attempts.
Eggleston led UMHB with 13 points on 5-9 shooting from the field ad she also grabbed seven rebounds. Jones added 10 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Olivia Champion scored nine points and Taylor Kollmorgen had eight as 13 different players scored for the Cru. UMHB shot 46 percent from the floor as a team and out rebounded the War Hawks 46-30. UMHB scored 56 of its points in the paint and the bench combined to score 34 points.
Valery Alvarado was the only player in double figures for McMurry with 13 points and she also led the way with eight rebounds. The War Hawks shot just 29 percent from the field as a team and went 2-18 from beyond the arc. McMurry did have a big edge from the free-throw line, going 15-19 compared to 7-8 for UMHB.
The Cru will now turn around and play host to the War Hawks in a 5:30 pm tip-off next Thursday at the Mayborn Campus Center. UMHB will host Hardin-Simmons on Saturday to close out next week’s schedule.
