Abilene, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team rallied late but could not overcome Hardin-Simmons hot long-range shooting in the second half as the Cru fell to the Cowgirls 66-57 Thursday evening in Abilene. UMHB falls to 8-10 overall and 4-5 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. Hardin-Simmons improves to 8-11 overall and 5-4 in the ASC on the year with the victory.
The Cru opened the scoring and led by as many as seven points in the first quarter. That lead would grow to nine points in the second quarter before Hardin-Simmons closed the half with a 9-0 run to tie it at 26 at halftime. The Cowgirls opened the second half with an 11-2 run to build a nine-point lead in the third quarter. UMHB responded to close the gap to 44-43 at the end of the third period. The Cru scored the first three points of the fourth quarter to grab a 46-44 lead and pushed it out to a five point advantage, but HSU hit back-to-back three-pointers to retake the lead and never looked back as the Cowgirls were able to ice the game from the free-throw line in the final minutes.
Tori Tucker and Kendra Wynn led UMHB with 11 points apiece and Wynn also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. Mackenzie Coffey added ten points and Meghan Turner scored nine, but just eight players scored for the Cru in the loss. UMHB shot just 27 percent from the field in the first half and hit 32 percent as a team. The Cru was just 5-21 from three-point range and turned the ball over 19 times.
Kayla Brown led Hardin-Simmons with 18 points and 15 rebounds and Kourtney Holyfield added 17 points and 11 boards. Madison Spears scored 11 and Addison Garcia chipped in ten more. The Cowgirls were 7-14 from three-point range in the second half after going 1-10 in the first half. HSU shot 33 percent overall from the floor and out rebounded UMHB 48-46 in the game.
The Cru will close out its Abilene road trip with a 1:00 PM non-conference game at McMurry University on Saturday. UMHB will then return home to host U.T.-Dallas in a return to conference play with a 5:30 PM tip-off next Thursday.
