For the first time in program history, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team will host the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament when postseason play opens Thursday at the Mayborn Campus Center. UMHB won its second consecutive ASC West Division title and will play as a #1 seed for just the third time in program history. The UMHB women will be making their 15th overall appearance in the ASC Tournament.
The Cru goes into the tournament with a 23-2 overall record and the team posted a 15-1 conference record to win the ASC West Division for the second straight year. UMHB opens the tournament with a 7:30 pm Quarterfinal Game against East Division #4 seed Louisiana College (11-13). The Cru won the regular season meeting between the two teams 96-67 in Pineville, Louisiana in January. Hannah Holt and Kendall Rollins led five UMHB players in double figures with 18 points apiece and Allaira Jones pulled down 12 rebounds to lead UMHB in that game. Kourtney McGhee led the Wildcats with 20 points in the loss and the Cru out rebounded Louisiana College 43-31 in the game. Holt goes into the ASC Tournament as the second leading scorer in the conference at 16.4 points per game. Kendall Rollins is scoring 13.1 points per game for UMHB and Alicia Blackwell averages 10.6 points per contest. Madison McCoy has a team-high 110 assists on the year. McGhee leads the Wildcats in scoring at 14.6 points per game. The UMHB-LC winner will advance to a 7:30 pm Semifinal Game on Friday to face the winner of the East Texas Baptist (22-3) vs. Howard Payne (11-14) Quarterfinal. The other side of the bracket will see Hardin-Simmons (18-7) facing University of the Ozarks (13-12) and U.T.-Dallas (21-4) taking on McMurry University (8-17). Those two winners will face off in a 5:00 pm Semifinal on Friday. The ASC Championship Game is set for 6:00 pm on Saturday with the winner clinching the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships.
The UMHB women are looking for their first ASC title and have an all-time record of 11-14 in ASC Tournament play. The Cru has set a new Division III era record for single-season victory with the 23 regular season wins. UMHB fell to East Texas Baptist University 71-70 in the Championship game of last year’s ASC Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Tickets windows at the Mayborn Campus Center will open one hours prior to the start of the first game of the day. Single-day passes are $10 and a three-day tournament pass is $20. Student tickets are $5 per day and programs will also be available at the door for $2. UMHB will provide live stats and video for all of the games at the following link: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/umhb/ [portal.stretchinternet.com]. You can also follow all of the tournament action at UMHB’s Tournament Central Page at:https://cruathletics.com/sports/2019/2/11/2019-asc-womens-basketball-tournament-central.aspx [cruathletics.com].
