BELTON, TX — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team will continue its march through the NCAA Division III National Championships with the program’s first trip to the Sectional Tournament this weekend in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The Cru will face Washington (MO) University in the opening game of a four-team Sectional hosted by top-ranked Thomas More University on Friday at 5 pm Eastern Time.
UMHB is in the Round of 16 in its first NCAA National Tournament appearance after posting wins over Rhodes College and American Southwest Conference rival UT Dallas last weekend to open the postseason. The Cru is 27-3 on the season and ranked 12th and 13th in the two national polls going into the postseason. Hannah Holt is leading UMHB in scoring at 15.7 points per game and Kendall Rollins averages 12.9 points and a team-best 5.6 rebounds per game. Alicia Blackwell is scoring 11.1 points per game after scoring 39 points in the first two tournament games. Madison McCoy tops UMHB with 133 assists on the year. The Cru averages 76.3 points per game and is out rebounding its opponents by almost six boards per game. Washington University is 21-6 on the season and the Bears have won five National Championships in 31 tournament appearances. The Bears are led by senior forward Melanie Homoly. The Preseason All-American is scoring 16.9 points per game, grabbing 7.5 rebounds per contest and shooting 54 percent from the field. Guards Rachael Sondag and Caroline Ballard are both shooting better than 35 percent from three-point range and have combined to make 99 threes on the season. Becca Clark-Callender has a team-high 135 assists and WashU’s high-powered offense averages 74.2 points per game on the season. The two teams will be meeting for the first time in Friday’s game but they do have a common opponent in UT Dallas. The Cru went 2-1 against the Comets this season. The Bears lost to UT Dallas 86-77 in the season opener back in November.
Thomas More (29-0) and Transylvania (27-2) will face off in Friday’s second game at 7 pm Eastern Time. The two Friday winners will meet at 6:30 pm Eastern Time on Saturday with a berth in the Final Four on the line. The Cru lost to Thomas More 73-55 in Belton in January. UMHB has never played Transylvania in women’s basketball.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for students and will be available at the ticket windows. Ticket windows will open an hour before the start of the first game each day. There will be 200 tickets set aside for UMHB fans, but any remaining tickets will be released to the public when the Cru’s game tips off. Thomas More will also provide live video and live statistics for all of the games.
