Box Score
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team battled back from a halftime deficit with a solid second-half defensive effort and the Cru posted a 72-63 victory over East Texas Baptist University Saturday evening in Belton. UMHB improves to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops ETBU to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the ASC on the season.
ETBU led early before the Cru women posted a 13-0 run to take a 17-7 lead. The Tigers stormed back and led by as many as five points before ETBU settled for a 40-37 halftime lead. UMHB opened the second half with another run and built a 53-44 lead with 13:43 left in the game. ETBU would cut it to five points at 55-50, but UMHB scored the next five points to open up a 60-50 lead with 10:03 remaining. The Tigers would cut the lead to six points at 67-61 with 2:17 left to play, but the Cru scored three straight points from the free-throw line and ETBU would not make another shot from the field as UMHB held on for the victory.
Kallie White led the Cru with 14 points and Jessica Kelly added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Cru. Jenny Black chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds and Kellie Thomas scored nine points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds for UMHB. Satara Harrell led ETBU with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Kelsey Harris added 11 points and Karlee Wilson scored 10 for the Tigers.
UMHB shot just 39 per cent from the field in the game, but the Cru held ETBU to 27 per cent shooting from the field. UMHB also forced 21 ETBU turnovers and held the Tigers to 1-8 shooting from three-point range in the second half. The Cru went 13-20 from the free-throw line compared to an 8-10 night from the stripe for ETBU.
The Cru women will now hit the road for a pair of key ASC games next week. UMHB will take on Concordia Texas in a 5:30 PM start next Thursday in Austin before closing out the weekend with a 5:00 PM start next Saturday at U.T.-Tyler.
