Belton, TX— The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team stormed back from a huge first-half deficit and the Cru went on to stun Hardin-Simmons 83-79 Thursday night in Belton. The UMHB women improve to 5-17 overall and 4-14 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Cowgirls to 11-11 overall and 9-9 in the ASC on the year.

Hardin-Simmons scored the game's first seven points and led 16-4 just 5:51 into the game. UMHB battled back to cut it to 45-37 at halftime. The Cru tied the game for the first time at 51-51 with 15:09 left to play and grabbed its first lead of the game at 65-64 on Miranda Shorter's lay-up with 8:42 remaining. The Cru stretched the lead to six points before the Cowgirls closed to 81-79 on an Alexis Popelar shot with 43 ticks left. UMHB turned the ball over with 22 seconds left giving HSU a chance to tie. Jasmine Lewis missed a shot with four seconds left and the Cru pulled down the rebound. Brittany Zamora then iced the game with a pair of free throws.

Zamora led UMHB with 20 points and she added nine assists. Gabby Guzman chipped in 16 points and Jovana Miles had 12 points and seven rebounds. The Cru shot 45 percent from the field and out rebounded the Cowgirls 38-35. UMHB also went 22-29 from the free-throw stripe.

Alexis Popelar topped HSU with 19 points on 6-11 shooting. Angela Newcombe added 17 points and 10 rebounds. Coco Cartwright had 16 points, hitting 4-8 three-pointers and Kara Looten chipped in 14 points. The Cowgirls shot 56 percent in the first half and finished the game at 49 percent.

The Cru will host McMurry University for a 1:00 PM start on Saturday to close out the week. UMHB will then welcome Schreiner University to the Mayborn Campus Center for a 5:30 PM tip-off next Thursday before closing out the season at Texas Lutheran the following Saturday.