Clarksville, Ark. – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team battled back in the second half, but could not come all the way back from a first-half deficit as the Cru fell to University of the Ozarks 69-61 Thursday evening in Clarksville, Arkansas. The loss drops the UMHB women to 8-4 overall and 4-3 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. The Eagles improve to 8-5 overall and 5-4 in the ASC on the year with the victory.

UMHB stayed within striking distance of the Eagles through the early going of the first half before Ozarks used an 11-2 run to take a 21-10 lead midway through the half. UMHB scored the next six points to close the gap to 21-16, but the Eagles stretched it back to as many as 12 points before holding a 36-26 lead at halftime. UMHB fought back and cut the lead to three points on four occasions. The last came when Taylor Tucker's jumper closed it to 60-57 with 1:42 remaining. Ozarks used a 7-1 run to take control of the game again and Macy Moore's three-pointer with 26 seconds left proved to be too little, too late for the Cru.

Tucker led UMHB with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Kourtney Bevers had 14 points and seven boards, Alyssa Dean added 12 and Moore finished with 11 for the Cru. Only three other players scored for UMHB, though. The Cru shot just 31 percent from the field and hit just 2-19 from three-point range in the loss. UMHB pulled down 24 offensive rebounds, but only held a 47-45 edge on the boards in the contest.

Tyler Adams had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Ozarks. Ashley Hipps also had 15 points on 6-8 shooting. Bryanna Moltz chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots and Jordana Andrews scored 10 for the Eagles. Ozarks shot 47 percent from the floor as a team and went 4-11 from beyond the arc in the win.

The Cru women return to action with a 1:00 PM start at defending ASC champion U.T.-Tyler on Saturday. UMHB will then return home to host Hardin-Simmons University and U.T.-Dallas in key ASC games next week.