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| T-shirts, a banner and a trophy are the spoils for Mary Hardin-Baylor after an upset win against No. 2 East Texas Baptist. American Southwest Conference photo |
The Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team controlled the game early and then held on late to stun the No. 2 team in the country and win its second consecutive American Southwest Conference championship as the Cru topped East Texas Baptist 75-72 in the ASC title game Monday night in Alpine. UMHB, the No. 4 seed from the conference's West Division, improves to 13-8 with the victory and makes it back-to-back ASC titles.
The loss ends ETBU's season at 25-1.
UMHB led by five points going into the final period and stretched the lead out to seven in the early going. The Tigers pulled back to within three before the Cru gained some separation. Hannah Eggleston's jumper made it an eight-point game with 5:24 remaining. ETBU's Mallory Stephens wrapped 3-pointers around another Eggleston basket to cut UMHB's lead to 63-59 with 4:33 left to play. The Cru pushed it back to a seven-point lead with 3:12 to go on an A'Lexiss Benton free throw.
The UMHB lead bounced back and forth between five and seven points until two free throws and a Mycah McDonald layup pulled East Texas Baptist to within 72-69 with 1:14 on the clock. Taylor Kollmorgen hit a free throw to make it a two-possession contest. The Tigers hit a pair of free throws with 37.6 seconds to play to close the gap to 73-71. UMHB turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, but Benton pulled down the rebound for the Cru. Brooke Elliott hit two free throws to make it a four-point Cru lead and UMHB would hold on for the victory. The Cru shot 90 percent from the field in the final period, but just 8-for-16 from the foul line.
Mary Hardin-Baylor hit its last field goal with 2:54 to play, and shot just 8-for-16 from the line in the fourth but had enough to get past #d3hoops formerly unbeaten ETBU to win the ASC crown. The final seconds and celebration. pic.twitter.com/GMa6XXeBYg
— D3hoops/Pat Coleman (@d3hoops) March 16, 2021
ETBU opened the third quarter with a 14-3 run to cut the Cru lead to 38-37. Eggleston hit a jumper for UMHB to make it a three-point game again, but the Tigers came right back and took the lead at 41-40 with 4:47 left to play in the third quarter. The two teams traded the lead several times before Olivia Champion converted a three-point play with 43 seconds left in the third to put the Cru up 48-43 and it would stay that way going into the fourth period. It was UMHB's turn to go cold in the third, hitting just 27 percent from the field and 1-7 three-point tries. ETBU shot 50 percent as a team in the third and was 2-4 from beyond the arc.
Stephens led ETBU with a game-high 29 points, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. She scored 15 of her points in the fourth quarter. Eggleston finished 8-f0r-12 from the field to score a team-high 17 points for the Cru. Champion added 12 points and ten different players scored in a balanced UMHB attack. Eggleston and Taylor Kollmorgen led the Cru with five rebounds apiece. UMHB shot 47 percent from the field on the game and finished 5-for-18 from 3-point range. The Cru forced 22 turnovers and only gave the ball away 12 times on the night, although two were in the final 80 seconds of the game, giving ETBU a chance to rally.
Mallory Stephens had a game-high 29 points to lead the Tigers. No other player had more than eight for East Texas Baptist in the game. ETBU shot 40 percent from the field and went 6-for-17 from beyond the arc. The Tigers also out rebounded UMHB 49-24 in the game, but gave up 32 points in the paint to the Cru.