The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team earned its eighth consecutive win Thursday evening in Belton with a 79-67 win over Louisiana College. The win improved UMHB to 12-2 on the season and 5-1 in American Southwest Conference action while the Wildcats moved to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in league play.
UMHB opened the game with a 5-4 lead and held an advantage through the first quarter. Hannah Holt scored 12 points in the first to give UMHB a 25-15 lead. Louisiana College opened the second quarter with a 16-5 run, to take a 31-30 advantage. After a 36-36 tie, the Wildcats scored three more points to take the lead but Holt took over, scoring six straight points out of the tie to give UMHB a 42-41 advantage.
The Cru came out of halftime with a 15-8 run to take an eight point lead and did not trail again 7:55 in the fourth quarter when the Wildcats took a 62-61 lead. Louisiana College led once more at 6:31 before UMHB took command of the contest, outscoring the Wildcats 16-5 in the final 6:30 of action to earn the 79-67 victory.
Holt led the Cru with 24 points followed by Kendall Rollins with 14 and Alicia Blackwell with 11. Meghan Turner anchored UMHB’s offense with 10 assists while Blackwell added five and Brooke Elliott had three. Defensively, Holt brought down 10 rebounds followed by Blackwell and Aubrie Elliott with eight each.
Louisiana College’s Brooke Jones led her team with 19 points followed by RyDeja McQuarn with 14. Kourtney McGhee was the leader with six assists while McQuarn had a team-high five rebounds.
UMHB shot 41.6 in the contest and 75 percent from the free throw line. The Wildcats shot 45.5 percent in the game, 23.5 percent from beyond the arc and 42.9 percent in foul shots. UMHB totaled 52 rebounds, 22 assists, five blocks and five steals. Louisiana College had 31 boards, 20 assists, two blocks and nine steals.
The Cru returns to action on Saturday, January 6th in a 2 p.m. game against Belhaven University at the Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.
