Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team will close out the 2013-14 regular season with a pair of crucial American Southwest Conference home games this week. The Cru will host Hardin-Simmons University for a 5:30 PM tip-off on Thursday before closing out the week with a 1:00 PM start against U.T.-Dallas on Saturday. The UMHB women have already clinched a berth in the ASC Championship Tournament, but seeding will be on the line for the Cru this week.
The Cru women are 15-8 overall and are tied for second in the ASC with a 15-5 league mark. UMHB has won 13 of its last 15 games, but will play the rest of the season without injured leading scorer and rebounder
Taylor Tucker. The Cru posted wins over both of this week's opponents on the road earlier this season, topping Hardin-Simmons 71-69 in Abilene and posting a 71-68 win over UTD in Richardson. UMHB needs one more victory to match its highest win total since the 2010-11 season and the Cru women enter the week as the national leader in rebounding margin, out rebounding opponents by 16.1 boards per game. Guard
Alyssa Dean is the leading active scorer for UMHB at 13.3 points per game and
Macy Moore (12.9) and
Jovana Miles (12.4) are also averaging double figures for a team scoring 79.8 points per game. Miles is also pulling down a team-best 8.4 rebounds per game and the Cru is forcing an average of nearly 17 turnovers per contest.
Hardin-Simmons will enter Thursday night's game with an 8-15 overall record and an 8-12 mark in ASC play. The Cowgirls are tied for seventh in the ASC and need wins to insure themselves a tournament berth. Taylor Klement and Joanna Daniel are tied for the team lead in scoring at 10.9 points per game and Klement is grabbing a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game. HSU averages 68.7 points per game as a team on the year.
U.T.-Dallas will open the week with a Thursday night game at Concordia Texas in Austin. The Comets are 18-5 overall entering the week and are tied for second in the ASC with UMHB at 15-5 in league play. UTD is second in the ASC in scoring defense and leads the league in three-point shooting. Morgan Kilgore ranks third in the conference in scoring at 17.7 points per game and she also leads the Comets in rebounding at 6.7 boards per contest. Two other players are also averaging in double figures in scoring on the year for UTD.
UMHB will provide free live video and live statistics for both games through the following link:
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/umhb.portal. The Cru could be seeded anywhere from second to sixth in the ASC Tournament depending on the outcome of this week's games. U.T.-Tyler has clinched the ASC regular season title and the right to host the conference tournament. The ASC Championship Tournament bracket will be released next Tuesday, February 25
th.
