Box Score
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team could not overcome a late second-half dry spell and the Cru fell to Howard Payne 66-61 Thursday night in Belton. The loss drops the UMHB women to 12-8 overall and 9-7 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. Seven of the Cru's eight losses have been by five or fewer points on the year. Howard Payne improves to 14-6 overall and 11-5 in the ASC on the season with the victory.
The Cru overcame a cold shooting first-half to lead 25-23 at halftime. The two teams would trade the lead throughout the early part of the second half before UMHB put together a 5-0 run to erase an HPU lead and give the Cru a 55-51 lead with 4:48 remaining in the game. The Jackets used a 9-0 run to take a 60-55 lead with 2:58 left to play. The Cru would close to within two points at 62-60 on
Brittany Zamora's three-pointer with 1:53 left, but HPU would hit four straight free-throws while holding the Cru to just one point down the stretch to ice the victory.
Lindsay Eaton led UMHB with 20 points and she added 10 rebounds.
Landie Thompson added 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Cru and Zamora also reached double figures with 12 points.
Jasmin Thomas led HPU with 15 points and Kayla Scott came off the bench to add 10 points. Brittany Roberson added nine points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.
The Cru shot just 28 percent from the field in the first half and finished at 35 percent for the game. UMHB was 5-17 from three-point range and out rebounded HPU 39-34. The Yellow Jackets shot 44 percent from the field, including a blazing 58 percent in the second half. HPU was 15-16 from the free-throw line and went 7-17 from beyond the arc.
The Cru will close out its home stand with a 1:00 PM tip-off against Sul Ross State University Saturday at the Mayborn Campus Center. UMHB will then hit the road for key ASC West Division games at Hardin-Simmons and McMurry University next week in Abilene.
