Seguin, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team used clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch to hold off Texas Lutheran as the Cru posted a 78-71 victory over the Bulldogs Tuesday night in Seguin. UMHB improves to 3-1 on the year with the victory. The loss drops TLU to 1-5 on the year.

The Cru led by four points early in the first quarter, but the two teams spent most of the first half trading leads before UMHB took a 39-37 lead into the break. The Cru opened the second half with a 10-2 run to push the lead into double figures at 49-39. UMHB still held a 10-point edge with 2:54 left in the third period, but the Bulldogs scored the final six points of the quarter to close the gap to 58-54. TLU tied the game at 68-68 with 4:16 remaining. Brooke Elliott hit three free throws and Meghan Turner buried a three-pointer for the Cru as the Bulldogs managed just one free throw to make it a 74-69 UMHB lead with 46 seconds to go. The Cru hit four key free throws down the stretch, as TLU never got closer than four points the rest of the way.

Alicia Blackwell led all scorers with 15 points for UMHB and she added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Kendall Rollins and Hannah Holt added 13 points apiece and Rollins pulled down a team-high eight boards. Turner also reached double figures with 10 points and she dished off seven assists. The Cru shot 38 percent from the field as a team and went 7-24 from three-point range. UMHB was 21-27 from the stripe, out rebounded TLU 38-36 and forced 19 Bulldog turnovers in the victory.

Abby Hroch, Cami Davis and Jordan Estrada all scored 13 points for Texas Lutheran. Tara Molina chipped in 11 points and Hroch snared a game-high 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs shot 46 percent from the field and went 10-24 from beyond the arc.

The Cru will continue its road swing with the start of American Southwest Conference play later this week. UMHB will take on LeTourneau University in a 5:30 start on Thursday evening before closing out the week with a 2:00 PM tip at East Texas Baptist Saturday in Marshall.