MARSHALL, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' Cowgirl basketball team came up short, falling 78-67 in the 2025 American Southwest Conference women's basketball championship game against East Texas Baptist on Saturday night.
 
The Cowgirls entered the championship after defeating Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday night in a thriller 63-62 in the ASC semifinal.
 
Hardin-Simmons had a tale of two halves in the ASC championship against ETBU with a slow start.
 
The Cowgirls shot 7-30 in the first half for 23 percent and scored 24 points. The Tigers of ETBU flipped that coin, opening the game with a 13-27 half for 48 percent and extended the lead with eight made 3-pointers to go up 42-24 at halftime.
 
HSU found some rhythm and nearly doubled the first half production in the third quarter with 23 points to bite into the lead, down 58-47 after three. The Cowgirl leading scorer Jacqueline Berry scored seven points in the third quarter. She finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the championship.
 
Hardin-Simmons pulled within ten points of the Tigers late, but a big 3-pointer from ETBU kept the Cowgirls just out of reach late, going down in the championship 78-67. The Tigers made 10-22 3-pointers on the day, finishing at their highest percentage of the year at 45 percent.
 
Berry and Aiken Semones were named to the all-ASC tournament team for the Cowgirls. Semones and Madison Williams finished with ten points on Saturday.

Berry finished the year with 376 points in her freshman season, passing Parris Parmer at 365 points in 2019-20 for the most scored by a freshman Cowgirl. 
 
The Cowgirls finish the year in the ASC championship game with a final record of 19-8.
 
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