Sports
Cru down Tornados in 2OT
Tuesday, 05 February 2013 by Matthew Girard
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's basketball team bounced back from its loss to Howard Payne by shocking Concordia University in double overtime Tuesday night in Austin.
Concordia jumped out to an early 12-5 lead before the Cru (5-14, 4-10 American Southwest Conference) tied the game at 18 midway through the first half. The Tornados (12-8, 9-5) held the lead until the final seconds of the first half, when Taylor Tucker hit a layup with nine seconds left.
The teams traded leads throughout the second half before ending regulation tied at 69. The Cru finally pulled away from the Tornados using a 4-0 run in the second overtime to come away with the win.
Tucker led the Cru with 30 points and 17 rebounds, while Jovana Miles added 10 points and Macy Moore chipped in with nine points.
Briana Smith led the Tornados with 19 points.
Last Saturday, UMHB's first two-game win streak came to and end against Howard Payne as the Cru fell 84-74 in Brownwood.
Although UMHB fell behind early 24-12 midway through the first half and the Lady Jackets eventually building a 44-27 halftime lead, the Cru continued to chip away and got as close as eight points, 71-63, but couldn't get any closer.
The Cru outscored Howard Payne 47-40 in the second half and outrebounded the Lady Jackets 58-38, but couldn't overcome their 32 percent field goal shooting in the first half.
"It was kind of brutal going into Howard Payne after that trip because we looked tired, but we still fought and battled," coach Lisa Curliss-Taylor said. "I was pleased with our effort, but we just couldn't put it together."
Samara Williams led the way for UMHB with 18 points and Tucker had one of her best games of the season with 17 points and 18 rebounds. Kourtney Bevers (11 points) and Brandy Dittert (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Cru.
Tresta Danohoo topped all scoreres with 22 points for Howard Payne.
Curliss-Taylor said starting slow has been an issue for the Cru.
"We just woke up a little bit and decided to play," Curliss-Taylor said. "Our history is that we don't always start strong and we didn't start strong against Sul Ross either, so I knew going into Howard Payne, if we did that it was going to be very hard to recover."
Last Thursday, UMHB registered back-to-back wins for the first time this season after handling Sul Ross State University 72-56 in Alpine.
The Cru jumped out to a 30-20 lead with 3:08 left in the first half before Sul Ross closed the gap to 35-27 at halftime.
UMHB opened the second half on a 16-4 run and would eventually lead by as many as 24 in the win.
Miles led the way for the Cru with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Tucker added 14 points and eight rebounds. UMHB also outrebounded the Lobos 52-41 in the game.
The Cru will finish up their six-game road streak on Saturday in Abilene against Hardin-Simmons and then will return home for the final four games of the season.
