MARSHALL, Texas – University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball fell to Trinity in the first game ETBU's Christmas Classic Monday afternoon. With this 74-65 loss, the Cru's record falls to 4-10 while the Tigers improve to 4-6 on the season.
Allie Uzzell opened the matchup with a quick jumper from the elbow to put the Cru on the board first. The Tigers answered with a three, but Amillion Fowler matched that with one of her own. After a 5-5 knotted score, each team took turns holding the lead. The game was knotted again at 13, but a free throw from Rachel Okoye and a jumper from Karlee Cronk put UMHB up 16-13. Fowler followed, drawing a foul and sinking three free throws to extend the Cru's lead to 19-13. The Tigers added two more, but Okoye closed out the first quarter with two more free throws, going into the second with the Cru leading 21-15.
Natalia Galvan started the second frame with a quick three-pointer. Fowler put up another jumper, giving the Cru its biggest deficit of the day at 30-17. Trinity fought back, cutting into UMHB's lead, but Okoye responded with a three-pointer, putting the Cru up 33-23. Trinity narrowed the gap, closing out the first half with UMHB ahead 33-30.
Amillion Fowler was the leading Crusader in the first half in scoring and rebounds, putting up 12 points and four boards. Rachel Okoye followed with seven points and four rebounds.
The Tigers closed in on the Cru, making it a one-point game at 33-32. Fowler answered with a shot from beyond the arc to make it a 36-32 game. Amari Welch and Madyson Solis went on to add back-to-back jumpers, putting UMHB up 40-35. Trinity rallied back to take over the 46-45 upper hand with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter. The Tigers closed out the frame with a 52-47 lead.
Fowler opened the final quarter with a jumper to move the score to 52-49. As the frame went on, the Tigers fought, taking a late 70-59 lead. Galvan helped close the gap with a three-pointer with 0:25 remaining, followed by another three from Welch, but the Tigers closed it out with a 74-65 win.
Amillion Fowler finished with a total of 24 points to lead the Cru offensively, going 5-5 from the free throw line and 3-4 from beyond the arc. Three Crusaders followed with nine points each. Madyson Solis led with eight rebounds, followed by four others who tallied six boards each.
UMHB returns to action in Marshall on Tuesday, December 30th in a 3:00pm matchup against Wisconsin Eau-Claire.
