LONGVIEW, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team started slowly in both halves, but the Cru would fight back both times in a 67-64 victory over LeTourneau University Friday evening in Longview. UMHB improves to 4-1 on the season with the win while the loss drops the YellowJackets to 1-1 on the year.
 
The Cru hit just one of its first six shots from the field and fell behind 10-2 with 5:39 to go in the opening period. UMHB then closed the quarter with a 16-2 run, holding the YellowJackets to just one field goal in that time, to build an 18-12 lead at the end of the first. The Cru opened the second quarter on a roll and Cheyanne Bonilla's three-pointer would put UMHB up 25-14 early in that period. LeTourneau went on a 10-0 burst of its own to cut the gap to 25-24, but the Cru responded by scoring the next five points and led 32-26 at halftime. UMHB hit just 39 percent from the field in the opening half and turned the ball over 10 times. The Cru defense limited the YellowJackets to just 29 percent shooting and out rebounded LeTourneau 28-19 in the first 20 minutes.
 
The YellowJackets opened the second half with a 17-10 spurt and took its first lead since the first quarter at 43-42 with 3:43 left in the third quarter. The lead would grow to three points before Bonilla's jumper put the Cru back up 48-47 late in the period. It would stay that way going into the final ten minutes. UMHB scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to five and Brooke Elliott buried a three to give the Cru an eight-point advantage with 6:29 remaining. LeTourneau closed to within three points on a couple of occasions, but UMHB pushed it back to seven points with 1:53 left on the clock. Malacia Guy made a three-pointer for the YellowJackets to make it 67-64 with 40 seconds to go and LeTourneau had a chance to tie in the final seconds. The Cru would force a turnover but missed both free throws as the YellowJackets last gap three was off the mark at the buzzer.
 
Ashley Faux led UMHB with a career-high 16 points and she scored 10 of those in the first half. Bonilla added 10 points and ten different players scored for the Cru. Taylor Kollmorgen had nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds and Faux also had nine boards. UMHB shot 43 percent from the field for the game, but went just 7-17 from the free-throw line. The Cru won the rebounding battle 51-40 to help overcome 16 turnovers.
 
Guy led LeTourneau with 18 points, Kyndall Hardeman scored 12 and Scruffy Hopkins added 11 more. Flora Akingbade pulled down a team-best 12 rebounds. The YellowJackets shot just 31 percent from the field but went 18-24 from the line.
 
The UMHB women will now take a week off for the Christmas break. The Cru will return to action with a home exhibition game against North American University at 3 pm on January 2^nd at the Mayborn Campus Center.