RICHARDSON, Texas – The third time was the charm as the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team held off a frantic Hardin-Simmons comeback bid to win its first American Southwest Conference Championship Saturday evening in Richardson. The Cru topped the Cowgirls 60-58 to erase the memory of back-to-back losses in the previous two ASC title games. UMHB also locked up its second straight trip to the NCAA Division III National Championships by claiming the league's automatic bid to the postseason.

The Cru led 43-35 going into the fourth quarter, but Hardin-Simmons would not go away. HSU cut the lead to six points to open the final period, before the Cru answered and used Alicia Blackwell's jumper with 5:31 to go to open up its biggest lead of the game at 53-39. Hardin-Simmons would storm back behind the play of Taylor Gaffney and cut it to 53-51 with 3:06 remaining. The Cowgirls would tie it up at 56 all with 1:20 left but Blackwell hit another jumper to give the lead back to the Cru with 1:01 on the clock. Parris Parmer then tied it up with two free throws with 43 seconds left in the game. Blackwell hit a running jumper with 12.4 seconds remaining to give UMHB a 60-58 lead and the Cowgirls missed three shots on the final possession as the Cru held on for the victory.  

Both teams seemed tight in a low-scoring first quarter. The game was scoreless until the Cowgirls broke the ice 3:29 into the game. UMHB finally scored on a pair of Kendall Rollins free-throws at the 5:46 mark. There would be four lead changes and three ties from there before HSU led 12-11 after the first ten minutes. The two teams traded the lead multiple times early in the second quarter before the Cru defense stepped up and held the Cowgirls scoreless for the final 3:15 of the half. Ke'Aunna Johnson's layup tied the game at 20 with three minutes left in the period and she added  a jumper 47 seconds later to put UMHB up 22-20. Hannah Holt added two free throws, Johnson hit another jumper and Alicia Blackwell added a bucket just before halftime as the Cru closed the half with a 10-0 run for a 28-20 halftime lead.

Allaira Jones hit a jumper on the opening possession of the second half to give UMHB its first double-digit lead of the game. The Cru advantage would grow to 13 points before a quick HSU spurt cut the gap to 37-28 with four minutes to go in the third. The Cowgirls would then pull to within six points late in the period before another Blackwell basket made it 43-35 UMHB going to the fourth quarter.

Blackwell led the Cru with 17 points. She added six rebounds and tied the ASC Championship Game record with five steals. Rollins added 12 points as ten different players scored for UMHB. The Cru shot just 33 percent from the field and was just 2-14 from three-point range. UMHB hit 12-13 from the free-throw line and forced 21 Cowgirl turnovers in the game.

Gaffney had a game-high 20 points to lead HSU. Parmer had 12 points and Burke grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. The Cowgirls shot 40 percent as a team and out rebounded the Cru 47-34 in the game. HSU was just 1-15 from beyond the arc and only forced ten turnovers in the night.

UMHB improves to 24-4 on the season with the win. This is the first ASC title in program history and the first conference championship for Cru women's basketball since UMHB won the Heart of Texas Conference title in 1997. The loss drops Hardin-Simmons to 21-7 on the season.

Rollins, Blackwell and Holt were named to the ASC Championship Tournament All-Tournament Team. Holt won tournament Most Valuable Player honors. UMHB will return to the NCAA Division III National Championships after advancing to the Regional round of last year's tournament. The field for the 2020 Tournament will be announced Monday at 1:30 pm via web stream on ncaa.com.