BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team fell just short in the 2025-26 season opener, falling 57-53 to Whitman College Friday evening in Belton.
Whitman opened with six unanswered points and cruised to an 11-point lead at 15-4. UMHB mounted a comeback at the 1:34 mark, pulling within six to end the half at an 18-12 deficit.
The second quarter played scoreless until the 6:53 mark when Briana Andrade made a jumper for the Blues. Whitman added another jumper and a three-pointer at 4:44 to take an eight-point lead.
Natalia Galvan responded with a three-pointer for the Cru but another Kaella Peters three-pointer kept the Blues up 28-16. Whitman answered, going back up by 14 points to end the half with a 34-20 lead.
UMHB cut the gap to 10 with 3:23 to play in the third quarter.
Rachel Okoye made a jumper and ensuing foul shot to cut the gap to seven and directly followed that with a steal and a layup. Whitman responded with a breakaway layup, but Okoye responded with a pair of drained layups to keep the gap at five. The Blues made one more jumper at 1:44 but no more points were scored, sending the game into the fourth with a 44-37 Whitman lead.
The Cru cut the gap to four at the 8:35 mark and down to two with a pair of Okoye free throws at 6:53. Whitman answered with a jumper, but another UMHB free throw brought the gap back down to three points with 5:20 to play. Whitman held the high ground, but UMHB continued to press with Okoye making a jumper at 15.3 seconds left to pull within one possession. The Blues made a pair of foul shots with 14 seconds to play to take a five-point lead, but
Amari Welch responded with a three-pointer with one second remaining. The Blues put it away with two more foul shots at 0.5 to seal the 57-53 win.
Okoye led the Cru with 23 points while
Amillion Fowler added nine and
Josie Bruder scored seven. Okoye was also the team leader with 12 rebounds and three assists.
UMHB returns to action on Sunday, November 9
th in a noon contest against Emory University at the Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.
