ABILENE, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team knew it faced a tall task Thursday night in Abilene, taking on a Division I opponent after going almost a week between games. The Cru had to fight back from an early double-digit deficit before Abilene Christian pulled away as the Cru lost to the Wildcats 95-49 Thursday evening in Abilene. The loss drops UMHB to 2-1 on the season while Abilene Christian improves to 5-0 on the year with the victory.
 
UMHB missed its first five shots from the field and fell behind ACU 15-2 with 3:06 left in the opening period. The Cru would fight back to close that quarter with a 9-3 run to cut the lead to 18-11 after the first ten minutes. Bethany McLeod had five of UMHB's 11 points in that session. The Cru cut the gap to six points early in the second quarter on Allaira Jones' layup, but the Wildcats took advantage of another UMHB cold spell to open up the game. Abilene Christian put together a 9-0 run while holding the Cru off the board for nearly four minutes in building a 30-15 lead. UMHB would battle to get back into it, but the Wildcat lead grew to 47-21 at halftime. ACU shot 51 percent as a team in the first half while the Cru was held to 29 percent shooting from the field.
 
UMHB cut the lead to 21 early in the third quarter, but the Wildcats would answer again to take it back out to a 26-point cushion. ACU continued to take advantage of a huge rebounding edge and Cru turnovers to open up a 74-41 lead going into the final period. The Wildcats continued to pull away as UMHB went the final 5:22 without a basket.
 
McLeod and Brooke Elliott led the Cru with nine points apiece and Olivia Champion scored eight. McLeod had a team-high four assists and Hannah Eggleston topped UMHB with eight rebounds in the game. The Cru shot 33 percent as a team and was 4-12 from beyond the arc. UMHB hit 11-20 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 24 times on the night.
 
Alyssa Adams had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Wildcats. Anna McLeod scored 18 points and Madi Miller and Taylor Morgan added 10 points apiece. ACU 51 percent from the floor as a team and hit 22-29 from the stripe. The Wildcats also used their height advantage to out rebound the Cru 45-29 and Abilene Christian turned 12 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points.
 
The UMHB women will now return home to face UNT-Dallas in a 5:30 pm tip-off on Monday at the Mayborn Campus Center. The Cru topped the Trailblazers 76-56 in UMHB's season opener on December 1^st.