The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team dominated the final three quarters as the Cru rolled to a 96-51 victory over Sul Ross State to clinch the American Southwest Conference West Division title Thursday night in Alpine. UMHB improves to 20-4 overall and 13-3 in the ASC and wins the West Division for the first time since 2009-10. The Lobos drop to 6-18 overall and 4-12 in the ASC on the year with the loss.
The Cru made just one of its first nine shots in a sluggish start but still led 20-12 after the opening quarter. UMHB outscored the Lobos 25-8 in the second to build a 45-20 halftime lead. The Cru would open the third period with a 17-2 run to push the lead out to 40 points and UMHB was able to cruise to the victory from there.
Aubrie Elliott came off the bench to lead the Cru with career highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds. Hannah Holt had 16 points, Haven Neal scored 12 and Alicia Blackwell chipped in 11 more as 11 different players scored for UMHB. The Cru shot 48 percent from the field as a team and hit 23-29 from the free-throw line. UMHB also had 22 assists and 12 steals in the victory.
Erica Powell led the Lobos with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Annie Lenoir scored 11 points. Sul Ross shot just 29.9 percent as a team and went 6-16 from the stripe in the loss. UMHB forced 18 SRSU turnovers in the game.
The Cru will close out the regular season with a 2:00 PM start at Howard Payne University Saturday in Brownwood. UMHB will be a #1 seed in the ASC Championship Tournament and will face the East Division #4 seed in the first round. U.T.-Dallas will host that tournament next Thursday through Saturday in Richardson.
