BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team was able to pull away in the final minutes as the Cru topped U.T.-Tyler 84-73 Monday night in Belton. UMHB improves to 10-0 on the season with the victory. The loss drops the Patriots to 6-4 on the year.
The Cru led the entire first quarter and held a 21-19 edge after the opening 10 minutes of play. The Patriots grabbed the lead in the second period before UMHB closed the quarter with a 5-0 run to lead 40-38 at halftime. The Cru would lead by as many as 11 points in the third before UT-Tyler fought back to within 59-55 going into the fourth. The Patriots tied the game at 60 early in that period, but UMHB used a 20-9 run to push the lead into double figures and the UTT never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Kendall Rollins scored 28 points to lead the Cru and Hannah Holt added 26. Rollins added eight rebounds, four assists and four steals while Holt chopped in five assists and two steals. Aubrie Elliott came off the bench to score 17 for UMHB. The Cru shot 45 percent from the field as a team and forced 19 turnovers.
Bianca Valderrama led the Patriots with 24 points. Carissa Spiker scored 15 points and Shadazia Birchette grabbed eight boards. UT-Tyler shot 42 percent as a team and hit 7-13 from three-point range. The Patriots also held a slight rebounding edge at 38-36 in the loss.
UMHB returns to action with a 6 pm home game against Schreiner University on Thursday. The Cru will then play host to Austin College on December 29th in the final game of the calendar year.
