Box Score
Alpine, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team built a double-digit first half lead and the Cru held on in the second half as the UMHB women posted a 67-53 victory over Sul Ross State Thursday night in Alpine. The Cru women clinched the outright American Southwest Conference West Division title with the victory and the UMHB women have now won 16 straight games. The Cru improves to 20-4 overall and 17-3 in ASC play with the victory. The loss drops the Lobos to 2-22 overall and 2-18 in the ASC on the year.
UMHB controlled the game early, taking a 23-11 lead with 9:23 remaining in the first half. The Cru would then stretch the lead to 19 at the half, taking a 44-25 lead into the break. The lead would grow to as many as 24 points early in the second half before Sul Ross stormed back. The Lobos would close to within 54-44 with 8:14 to go. Cortney Poncik would score five straight points to give the Cru a 15-point lead and the Lobos would not get closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Miranda Shorter led a balanced UMHB scoring attack with 10 points, all of them in the first half. Ayla Adams added a season-high nine and a total of 12 different players scored for the Cru. Liz Pereyra led the Lobos with 29 points and eight rebounds in a dominating performance for Sul Ross.
The Cru shot just 35 per cent from the field and went 10-31 from three-point range. UMHB also out rebounded the Lobos 42-33 and held Sul Ross to 29 per cent shooting from beyond the arc.
UMHB will close out the regular season with a 1:00 PM tip-off Saturday in Brownwood. The Cru will then advance to the ASC Championship Tournament next weekend in Pineville, Louisiana. UMHB will be the #1 seed from the West and will open the tournament on Friday against the #4 seed from the ASC East Division.
