BELTON (February 21, 2009) - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team fought back from a double-digit second half lead, but the Lady Cru’s comeback fell short in a 63-54 loss to Howard Payne University Saturday afternoon in Belton. The UMHB women end the regular season with a 13-12 overall record and a 12-9 mark in American Southwest Conference play. Howard Payne improves to 20-5 overall and 16-5 in the ASC with the victory.

Howard Payne would take a 43-3 lead with 12:18 left in the game before the Cru started to battle back. UMHB cut it to 45-42 with 8:23 left in the game and HPU would lead 47-45 with 3:12 remaining. Hope Hohertz would hit a three-pointer for the Yellow Jackets to make it a 50-45 game before a pair of Kallie White free-throws pulled UMHB back to within 50-47 with 1:54 on the clock. Mionca Hall would drain a pair of free-throws at the other end of the floor and UMHB would not get closer than four points the rest of the way as Howard Payne iced the game from the free-throw line. The Yellow Jackets led 23-22 at halftime.

White led UMHB with 12 points and she also grabbed seven rebounds. Stacie Urbina added 10 points off the bench for the Cru women. Hohertz had a game-high 14 points and nine rebounds to lead Howard Payne. Katy Sarem added 11 points and Sarah Jockers had 10 points.

HPU shot just 37 per cent from the field in the game, but the Yellow Jackets were 21-23 from the free-throw line. UMHB shot just 31 per cent from the field and only went 4-21 from three-point range in the loss.

The Cru women will now advance to next weekend’s ASC Championship Tournament as the #4 seed from the ASC West Division. The tournament will be played at McMurry University in Abilene and the Cru women are making their fourth straight appearance in that tournament. The bracket for the ASC Championship Tournament will be released tomorrow.