UMHB women’s basketball wins 10th straight, holds Berry to 12 second-half points in 74-40 win

UMHB women’s basketball file photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru

NEW YORK CITY–Leading Berry College 41-28 at halftime, the Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s basketball team only needed to maintain its 13-point advantage over the final two quarters to extend its win streak to double digits. 

But on the court at Baruch College on Tuesday afternoon, the Crusaders pressed forward with even more intensity in the second half, and turned in one of their best defensive halves of the season. Berry scored just 12 points over the final two quarters–including just four in the fourth–as UMHB improved to 10-1 overall with a 74-40 victory. 

The Cru has now won 10 straight games, while Berry dropped to 5-5 overall. 

“We play how we want to on offense if the defensive stops and hustle are there first,” UMHB head coach Katie Novak-Lenoir said postgame. “Our team knows that. We did a good job of letting that dictate the energy and were a little smarter in the second half with rotations and not fouling, which we got caught up in a little in the first half.” 

The defensive discipline contributed greatly to UMHB’s 20-6 scoring run as The Cru closed the win. Berry went to the free throw line just once in the second half, missing on two straight attempts. That proved especially important since the Vikings were already greatly challenged against UMHB’s defensive pressure, and shot just 29.4 percent from the field. They were also 0-for-8 from 3-point range in the final two quarters, unable to gain any offensive momentum. 

Ultimately, turnovers proved to be one of the most visible effects of UMHB’s defensive success in the victory, as The Cru forced 24 turnovers, and finished with 35 points off turnovers. Combined with UMHB’s quick pace, there was little Berry could do to slow down the Crusaders once UMHB forced a turnover.

The Cru opened the contest on a 10-3 scoring run, with Kaitlyn Kollmorgen scoring six of those points on layups. That proved to be a continual theme through all four quarters, as UMHB scored early and often from short-range, with 42 points in the paint. While that was a credit to The Cru’s offensive balance and aggressiveness in getting to the rim, the 3-point shooting success in the first half contributed as well. UMHB was 5-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first two quarters, which spread out the Berry defense and allowed for more scoring opportunities on drives to the lane. 

“That always helps,” Novak-Lenoir said of the 3-point shooting. “I thought we did a solid job of knocking them down. They were in rhythm and we did a good job of making that one more pass [to set up a good shot.]”

Berry cut the UMHB lead to 15-14 with 2:19 left in the opening quarter, but the Crusaders scored the game’s next seven points en route to a 22-14 lead. That included Lauren Baker’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the opening quarter, and the momentum carried into the second. Consecutive layups from leading scorer Arieona Rosborough sparked a 9-0 spurt early in the second quarter, as UMHB gained a 31-16 advantage. 

The Crusaders never looked back, scoring 12 of the final 16 points in the third quarter before outscoring Berry, 14-4, in the fourth. 

Rosborough led a balanced scoring effort from The Cru, with 16 points. Ashley Faux added a season-high 13 points, and Baker had 10, rounding out UMHB’s double-digit scorers. Faux had perhaps an even bigger performance on the defensive end, tallying six steals.

UMHB now looks ahead to a key matchup against Millsaps on Wednesday at 12 p.m. CT in New York City. The Majors defeated Williams, 63-59, on Tuesday, and are 10-1 overall.