Longview, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team saw a seven-point lead slip away in the final minutes of regulation and the Cru could not hold off LeTourneau in overtime as UMHB fell 79-75 to the Yellow Jackets Saturday afternoon in Longview. The loss drops the Cru to 11-10 overall and 7-9 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. LeTourneau improves to 7-14 overall and 5-11 in the ASC on the year with the victory.
UMHB opened up the tempo in the second half and built a 62-55 lead with just 2:42 left to play. LeTourneau responded with a 9-0 run to grab a 64-62 lead with just 17 seconds remaining. UMHB tied the game on two Macy Moore free throws with 13 seconds left. The Cru then forced a turnover and had a chance to win, but Alyssa Dean's jumper was off the mark at the buzzer. LeTourneau led 72-71 with 1:06 to go in overtime when Kourtney Bevers appeared to give the Cru the lead on a runner in the lane, but Bevers was called for a charge, the bucket was wiped out and UMHB's bench was called for a technical foul. The Yellow Jackets then hit four straight free throws to build a five point lead. Elizabeth Rutherford buried a three-pointer for the Cru to cut the gap to 77-75, but two Ashley Reed free throws with five seconds left proved to be the difference. LeTourneau scored the first six points of the game and 10 of the first 12 before UMHB fought back to tie the game at 26-26 at halftime.
Dean topped the Cru with 16 points and Moore added 14 more. Taylor Tucker had 11 points and a team-best seven rebounds for UMHB and ten different players scored. The Cru shot 40 percent from the field as a team and forced 23 turnovers. UMHB was 21-33 from the free throw line in the loss.
Reed led LeTourneau with 17 points and Ashley Stephens scored 16. Rebecca Stewart had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds as the Yellow Jackets out rebounded UMHB 46-39 in the game. LeTourneau shot 46 percent from the field and went 5-13 from three-point range while UMHB went 2-4 from beyond the arc.
The Cru will now return home for the final two regular season home games of the year next week. UMHB will host defending ASC champion U.T.-Tyler for a 5:30 PM start on Thursday before closing out the week with a 1:00 PM tip-off against University of the Ozarks next Saturday.