Belton, TX. — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team fought back from an early deficit to make a game of it, but the Lady Crusaders could not come all the way back in a 75-65 loss to Hardin-Simmons Thursday evening in Belton. The UMHB women drop to 12-9 overall and 5-5 in American Southwest Conference West Division play with the loss. The Cowgirls, ranked 17th in the nation in Division III, improve to 20-2 overall and 10-1 in the ASC West with the victory.
Hardin-Simmons led 38-32 at halftime after leading by as many as 13 points in the first half. UMHB shot 43 per cent from the field in the first half while HSU shot 45 per cent, but the Cowgirls took 10 more shots. UMHB then scored nine of the first 13 points of the second half to close to within one at 42-41 with 14:48 left to play and the Lady Crusaders pulled back to within one point at 48-47 with 9:10 remaining. The Cowgirls then used a 20-10 run to push the lead to 11 points with 3:18 left in the game and HSU iced the game from the free-throw line from there. UMHB held the Cowgirls to 32 per cent shooting from the field in the second half and HSU also hit just 2-9 from three-point range in the second half. The Lady Crusaders could not overcome their 29 turnovers, though as HSU took 22 more shots than UMHB in the game. The Lady Crusaders did out rebound HSU 46-34 and UMHB also blocked seven shots.
Lisa Martinez led UMHB with 26 points and 11 rebounds and she hit 8-13 from the field. Jennifer Gilchriest added 14 points and LaTrice Hutchins had 11 points for the Lady Crusaders. Lauren Harris led Hardin-Simmons with 18 points and Diana Martinez added 17 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. Veronica Jones chipped in with 11 points and Magna Green came off the bench to post a double-double for HSU with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lady Crusaders will continue their home stand with a 1:00 PM tip-off against McMurry University on Saturday. The Cowgirls will travel to Austin for a 1:00 PM start at Concordia University on Saturday.