BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team fought back to tie the game in the final seconds, but committed a costly foul at the end as the Cru dropped a 77-75 heartbreaker to Howard Payne Saturday afternoon in Belton. UMHB closes out the regular season with an 11-8 overall record and a 7-7 mark in American Southwest Conference play. The YellowJackets improve to 10-6 overall and 7-3 in the ASC with the win.
 
The two teams were tied at 50-50 going into the fourth quarter as HPU closed the third period with an 8-0 run. The YellowJackets would open up a 10-point lead with 3:23 left to play. UMHB stormed back and tied the game at 75-75 on Hannah Eggleston's three-pointer with ten seconds to go. Howard Payne missed a shot on its final possession, but Amanda Turpin was fouled on the play and would go on to make both free-throws with 1.3 seconds on the clock. That put HPU up 77-75 and the Cru could not get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded.
 
UMHB opened the game with a 5-0 run and led 19-15 after the opening period. The Cru stretched it out in the second quarter and took a 38-28 lead into the break at halftime. Howard Payne had a big third quarter to pull even going into the final ten minutes.
 
Eggleston had a huge game for UMHB, scoring 31 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. She was 13-21 from the field and went 4-5 from beyond the arc. Taylor Kollmorgen had 10 points and 11 rebounds in her final game at the Mayborn Campus Center. UMHB shot 39 percent from the field as a team and was 9-19 on three-pointers. The Cru was just 10-21 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 16 times. UMHB did out rebound the YellowJackets 54-42 on the day.
 
Salina Ali led HPU with 19 points and Turpin added 17 off the bench. Chelsey Harris had 14 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Howard Payne shot 39 percent as a team and was 32 percent from three-point range. The YellowJackets only turned the ball over eight times and HPU was 22-40 from the stripe.
 
The Cru women will now advance to the ASC Championship Tournament. UMHB is the #4 seed from the West Division and will face Hardin-Simmons University in a first round game on Wednesday in Abilene. That game is scheduled to tip at 5 pm.