Fort Worth, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team led the majority of the game and used big shots from Meghan Turner down the stretch to fend off Texas Wesleyan's comeback bid in an 81-77 victory over the Rams Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth. UMHB improves to 11-2 on the season with its seventh straight victory. The loss drops Texas Wesleyan to 2-10 on the year.

The Cru never trailed through the first three quarters of play and led 40-31 at halftime. The UMHB lead would grow to as many as 13 points in the third period. Texas Wesleyan chipped away in the fourth quarter and the Rams took a 76-75 lead on Evie Whorley's three-pointer with 1:17 remaining in the contest. Alicia Blackwell tied the game at 76 with a free throw 19 seconds later. The Cru would force a turnover on the next TWU possession and Turner buried a three-pointer to make it 79-76 UMHB with 28 seconds left to play. Whorley hit a free throw to cut it to 79-77, but Turner drained two free throws in the final seconds to put the game away for the Cru.

Blackwell led UMHB with 18 points and 10 rebounds as she posted her fifth consecutive double-double. Blackwell was 7-8 from the field and also recorded five assists. Turner went 4-5 from beyond the arc to finish with 16 points and Hannah Holt also scored 16 points for the Cru. Kendall Rollins also reached double figures with 12 points for UMHB. The Cru shot 67 percent from the field in the fourth quarter and hit 56 percent as a team for the game. UMHB hit 8-16 from three-point range and out rebounded the Rams 39-33 in the victory.

Kara Sicurella led Texas Wesleyan with 13 points and Falesha Fuller added 12 points. Alycia Louallen chipped in 11 points and Nicole Gleason scored 10 more. The Rams shot 44 percent from the field as a team and went 12-27 from beyond the arc.  

The game was the final non-conference contest of the year for UMHB. The Cru women will return to American Southwest Conference play with a pair of home games next week. UMHB will host Louisiana College for a 5:30 PM tip-off on Thursday before closing out the week with a 2:00 PM start against Belhaven University next Saturday.