ALPINE, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team played great defense but could not overcome a fourth quarter cold spell in a 55-46 loss to Sul Ross State Thursday night in Alpine. The Cru falls to 8-5 overall and 4-4 in American Southwest Conference play with the defeat. The Lobos improve to 6-9 overall and 4-2 in the ASC with the victory.
 
The game was tight going into the final period with UMHB trailing 35-33. The Cru tied it up on Taylor Kollmorgen's jumper and would fight back to take a 39-37 lead before the Lobos took control. Sul Ross scored the game's next nine points and never let UMHB get closer than six points the rest of the way. The lead would grow to as many as 11 points before Hannah Eggleston's jumper in the final seconds cut it to the final margin. The two teams traded the lead throughout the third period with neither team leading by more than five points in the quarter.
 
UMHB closed the first quarter with an 11-1 run to build a 16-8 lead after the opening period. The Cru shot 55 percent from the field as a team in the first ten minutes and held Sul Ross to just 2-12 from the floor. The Lobos started to heat up at the end of the first half and used a 9-0 run to end the second quarter to grab a 26-23 halftime lead. The shooting numbers are told the story in that stanza as Sul Ross hit 47 percent while holding UMHB to 27 percent on 3-11 from the field.
 
Kollmorgen topped the Cru with 10 points and she grabbed seven rebounds. Bethany McLeod added nine points and Eggleston had nine rebounds. UMHB shot 40 percent from the field for the game, but was just 3-9 from three-point range and 3-7 from the free-throw stripe. The Cru also turned the ball over 20 times on the night.
 
Vania Hampton had 18 points for Sul Ross to lead all scorers and she also pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. Teresa Quintana added 15 points for the Lobos. UMHB held Sul Ross to just 31 percent shooting from the field and 24 percent from beyond the arc. The Lobos had a huge advantage from the free-throw line, hitting 14-16 from the stripe. Sul Ross also grabbed ten offensive rebounds but UMHB held a slight edge in boards overall at 37-36.
 
The Cru will close out this road trip with a 5 pm start at Howard Payne Saturday in Brownwood. The UMHB women will then return home for a five-game home stand starting next week.