ABILENE, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team dropped a two-point loss to McMurry University Saturday afternoon in Abilene.
 
The game played back-and-forth until the 8-8 mark when the War Hawks used a five-point run to go ahead. Josie Bruder and Karlee Cronk answered with back-to-back layups to pull the Cru within one. McMurry pulled ahead again, taking a 17-14 lead into the second quarter.
 
The War Hawks held a seven-point lead early in the second but UMHB pulled back within three of a jumper from Natalia Galvan. McMurry continued to score, extending the lead to 10 with 2:57 left in the first half. Okoye hit a layup at 2:25 to pull within eight. Neither team scored again in the half, sending the contest into halftime with a 34-26 Warhawk lead.
 
Bruder led the Cru with 10 points while Rachel Okoye added eight.
 
UMHB retook the lead at 5:55 in the third quarter with a jumper from Pierce Sheppler. McMurry answered with a 13-0 run to take a 47-35 lead, ending the quarter up 50-37.
 
The Cru fought back in the fourth, dwindling the War Hawk lead down to six at 4:41 and again at 3:00. McMurry led 60-52 with 1:43 to play but a three-pointer followed by a pair of foul shots, all from Galvan, pulled the Cru within three. Aryana Cleveland made two free throws for the War Hawks, extending the lead back to five. Galvan made another three-pointer as time expired, ending the contest in a 62-60 McMurry win.
 
Okoye finished with 21 points, followed by Galvan with 13 and Bruder with 12. Scheppler was the Cru's leading rebounder with ten, followed by Okoye with nine. Okoye also added a team-high eight steals and four assists in the matchup.
 
UMHB returns to action on January 6^th in a 5 p.m. contest against the University of St. Thomas (Texas) at the Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.