The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team used a smothering defensive effort to take control of the game in the second quarter as the Cru cruised to a 79-54 victory over Concordia Texas Saturday afternoon in Austin. The 7th-ranked UMHB women improve to 17-1 overall and 9-0 in American Southwest Conference play with the win. The loss drops the Tornados to 7-11 overall and 3-6 in league play on the year.
Concordia opened the game with a 17-6 run, but UMHB battled back to score 18 of the opening quarter’s final 23 points. The Cru took the lead with a 16-0 run and led 24-22 after the first quarter. UMHB then held the Tornados to 13 percent shooting and nine points in the second period to break it open and the Cru held a 43-31 advantage at halftime. The UMHB lead would grow to 24 points early in the third quarter and the Cru never let Concordia get closer than 12 points the rest of the way. The Cru defense held the Tornados scoreless for the final 6:04 of the contest to really put the game out of reach.
Hannah Holt hit 7-12 shots from the field and led UMHB with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Alicia Blackwell had 14 points, Kendall Rollins scored 13, Madison McCoy chipped in 11 and Aubrie Elliott came off the bench to score 10 points for the Cru. Brooke Elliott led UMHB with a game-high five assists. The Cru shot 50 percent from the field as a team and out rebounded Concordia 48-31 in the win. UMHB was 6-15 from three-point range and went 15-19 from the free-throw line.
Payton Berger had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Tornados. Keturah Taylor scored 14 and Kaycie Dunkerley added 12 more. Concordia was limited to just 27 percent shooting from the field, hit 11-33 from beyond the arc. The Tornados made just 6-30 shots from inside the three-point line in the loss.
The Cru will continue its five-game road trip with two more ASC West Division games next week. UMHB will take on Howard Payne in a 5:30 pm start Thursday in Brownwood before closing out the week with a 1 pm tip against Sul Ross State Saturday in Alpine.
