Abilene, Texas – After trailing the entire game, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team made a late run, but the Cru fell short in a 71-62 loss to McMurry University Thursday night in Abilene. UMHB falls to 16-8 overall and 9-6 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. The War Hawks improve to 9-14 overall and 5-10 in the ASC with the victory.

McMurry opened the scoring before the Cru tied it on a Haven Neal jumper. The War Hawks then went on a 7-0 run to grab control of the game and led 16-10 after the first quarter. McMurry stretched that lead out in the second quarter to take a 31-20 halftime lead. The War Hawks would push the advantage to 13 points in the third quarter before UMHB started to claw back into the contest. The Cru pulled to within five points on five separate occasions in the fourth quarter at had it down to 55-50 with 6:13 remaining in the game. McMurry scored the next four points and would take the lead back out to 12 points before the Cru cut it to the final margin.

Kendra Wynn led UMHB with 18 points and she grabbed six rebounds and four steals. Jesslyn Poole hit 6-8 from the field for a season-high 15 points for the Cru. Neal pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. UMHB shot 38 percent from the field and 57 percent from the free-throw line. The Cru did not hit a three-pointer in the first half and finished at 4-12 from beyond the arc in the game.

Sham Hunter poured in 22 points on 9-12 shooting to lead McMurry. Hunter also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Skyler Reyna had 17 points and Haley Welch chipped in 16 more for the War Hawks. McMurry shot 44 percent from the field and went 18-24 from the free-throw line in completing the season sweep of UMHB.

The Cru will close out the regular season with a 1:00 PM tip-off at Hardin-Simmons on Saturday. UMHB can clinch second place in the ASC West and a #2 seed in ASC Tournament with a victory over the Cowgirls. The Cru has already clinched an ASC Tournament berth.