ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' women's basketball team advanced to the American Southwest Conference Championship game with a 69-55 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday afternoon at the Mabee Complex.
Both teams came out cold in the first quarter and the Cowgirls held a slim 15-13 lead after the first quarter. HSU led 30-26 at halftime, despite leading scorer
Jacqueline Berry missing a good chunk of the half in foul trouble and making just 1-of-13 3-pointers.
In the third quarter, the Cowgirls came out quickly and pushed the lead out 40-30 with a 10-4 run to start the half.
Abbie Crow hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the stretch for the Cowgirls. HSU pushed the lead out to 46-32 with 6:06 to play in the quarter and led 51-42 after three quarters.
UMHB scored the first eight points of the quarter to narrow it to 51-50 with 6:08 to play. Tayler Bullen hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring to start a 12-0 run for the Cowgirls to put the game away.
Dylan Koele hit a 3-pointer in the run and Berry had six points in the run.
HSU closed down the stretch by hitting their free throws, including 6-of-6 by
Caroline Croft in the final :47 seconds.
The Cowgirls shot 37.3 percent in the game, but they held the Crusaders to 31.5 percent. HSU forced 26 turnovers in the contest and outscored the Crusaders 32-18 in the paint.
MaeSyn Gay led four Cowgirls in double figures with 16 points and she added eight rebounds. Berry and Crow scored 14 points each and Croft had 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals in the game.
Rachel Okoye led the Crusaders with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Karlee Cronk came off the bench to post a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
HSU improved to 21-5 on the year and UMHB ended its season with a record of 8-18.
The Cowgirls will play Howard Payne for the title. The Yellow Jackets beat East Texas Baptist, 60-58, in the other semifinal. Game time is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday. HSU will be looking for its ninth all-time ASC title and Howard Payne will be looking for its sixth.
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