BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team overcame another sluggish first quarter to control the rest of the game as the Cru rolled to a 76-56 victory over Arlington Baptist Friday night in UMHB's home opener. The Cru is now 2-0 to start the season. The Patriots counted the game as an exhibition and remain at 4-1 on the year.
 
Arlington Baptist jumped out to a 10-4 lead before UMHB responded. The Cru closed the period with a 16-8 run and led 20-18 after the opening quarter. UMHB held the Patriots to just eight points on 13 percent shooting in the second period to open up a 43-26 advantage at halftime. The lead would grow to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter and ABU never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
 
Alexia Martin led the Cru with 14 points as she keyed UMHB's second quarter run. Olivia Champion added 13 points off the bench to go with seven assists and seven rebounds and Brooke Elliott had 10 points and eight rebounds in a balanced Cru attack. Taylor Kollmorgen pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds and Allaira Jones added 10 boards as UMHB out rebounded the Patriots 60-42 on the night. The Cru shot 42 percent from the field and 26 percent from beyond the arc but shot just nine free throws on the evening. The Cru had 46 points in the paint and 23 second-chance points in the game.
 
Heaven Muenster led ABU with 18 points and she also had six rebounds. Aaliyah Clark chipped in 10 points. The Patriots were held to just 27 percent shooting from the field and were 1-15 from three-point range. ABU did go 17-25 from the stripe but turned the ball over 20 times in the loss.
 
The Cru women are scheduled to return to action with a road game at Division I Abilene Christian next Thursday in Abilene. UMHB will then return home to host UNT-Dallas in a 5 pm start on December 14^th.