Brownwood, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team could not overcome a first-half cold spell as the Cru's second-half comeback bid fell short in an 84-74 loss to Howard Payne Saturday afternoon in Brownwood. The loss drops the UMHB women to 4-14 overall and 3-10 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. The Lady Jackets improve to 16-3 overall and 11-2 in ASC play with the victory.

The two teams were close through the early going before HPU took advantage of a UMHB cold stretch to post an 18-6 run and take a 24-12 lead midway through the first half. The Cru battled back to within six before another Lady Jacket spurt pushed the lead to 44-27 at halftime. The HPU lead would grow to 60-39 before UMHB chipped away. The Cru cut the gap to 71-63 on four straight Kourtney Bevers free throws with 2:00 remaining, but Howard Payne scored the next six points and UMHB would not get closer than ten points the rest of the way.

Samara Williams had a team-best 18 points to lead the Cru. Taylor Tucker had a huge game with 17 points and a game-high 18 rebounds, Bevers added 11 points and Brandy Dittert had 10 off the bench for UMHB. The Cru dominated the boards, out rebounding HPU 58-38 but shot just 37 percent from the field and turned the ball over 28 times in the loss. UMHB was 5-10 from three-point range in the game.

Tresta Donahoo topped all scorers with 22 points for Howard Payne, going 7-11 from the field and adding eight assists. Dana Marrs and Kayla Scott chipped in 13 points apiece for the Lady Jackets. HPU shot 42 percent from the field despite hitting just 5-16 from beyond the arc.

The UMHB women will close out their six-game road trip with games at Concordia Texas next Tuesday and at Hardin-Simmons University next Thursday. The Cru will then close out the regular season with four straight home games. UMHB will enter next week's action just one win behind fourth-place Texas Lutheran in the race for the final berth in the ASC Championship Tournament.