Photo: Alexis Carmosino had 13 points on Friday afternoon as UMHB women’s basketball rolled past Ozarks (photo by Russell Marwitz/True To The Cru/russellmarwitz.com)
ABILENE, Texas–In each of the season’s first two meetings against Ozarks, most notably the 58-53 loss on Feb. 10, the UMHB women’s basketball team had come away with a sense of disappointment in the performance. But the Crusaders made sure that was not the case the third time around.
On a neutral court in Abilene, second-seeded UMHB rolled to a dominant 78-49 win over the fifth-seeded Eagles on Friday afternoon, securing a spot in Saturday’s ASC title game. The Crusaders will face either Hardin-Simmons or ETBU at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on the campus of Hardin-Simmons University.
“We changed some things up on defense from the past games and wanted to get more of a spark from certain players,” UMHB head coach Katie Novak-Lenoir said of the differences in Friday’s win to the past two performances against Ozarks. “I think that significantly helped give us more general intensity and effort, even if the offense wasn’t flowing.”
That aspect was certainly evident. Though there were spans, as Novak-Lenoir noted, in which the offense had cold stretches, UMHB found an early rhythm. The scoring came early and often in the first quarter, a stark contrast to UMHB’s two previous matchups against Ozarks, as The Cru took no time to jump out to a lead.
An 11-0 run midway through the opening quarter gave UMHB a 13-2 advantage by the 3:52 mark, as the Crusader defense rose to the occasion. Ozarks had few opportunities on the offensive end, with Naomi Smith’s jumper 48 seconds in being the Eagles’ only scoring play for the game’s first six minutes.
Simultaneously, Alexis Carmosino connected on all three of her 3-point attempts in the first 10 minutes, and her nine points, along with six from Arieona Rosborough, put UMHB in command.
The strong start carried into the second quarter, as UMHB outscored the Eagles, 18-11. In fact, the Crusaders won every quarter, something they last accomplished on Dec. 19, 2023, in a 74-40 win over Berry.
The defensive intensity was noteworthy through all four quarters, as Ozarks shot just 32.1 percent, and was held below 50 points for the first time since Jan. 24, when UT-Dallas limited the Eagles to just 46. The most points UMHB allowed in a quarter was 15, and The Cru’s attention on the defensive end paved the way to the offensive success, as well.
“We know how important defense is, especially this time of year,” Novak-Lenoir noted. “We felt like we hadn’t been playing to the level of what we can do. Today, we worked on getting to our level of high energy on defense and staying there.”
In putting forth the statement win, The Cru finished with the advantage in nearly every statistic; with 13 more made field goals, two more made 3-pointers, 11 more rebounds, and 25 more bench points. The consistency on both ends of the floor made it especially notable considering Novak-Lenoir went deep into her bench, and nobody who saw action for UMHB played more than 25 minutes in the victory.
It was the type of performance UMHB needed, gaining confidence and momentum, as well as a sense of comfort inside HSU’s Mabee Complex, before Saturday’s critical conference title game. Carmosino led the way with 13 points, but the use of the roster’s depth in securing the win saw six other Crusaders finish with at least six points.
Rosborough, who was 5-of-9 from the field, had 12 points, and Jaycie Brisco rounded out the scoring with 10. 13 of the 16 players who saw action for UMHB tallied at least two points as The Cru came through with at least 77 points for the third-straight game.
Game Notes
- With the win, UMHB advances to the ASC championship game for the seventh time in program history.
- The last championship game appearance came during the 2020-21 season, when The Cru took down No. 2 ETBU, 75-72, in Alpine, Texas.
- UMHB’s last ASC Tournament win came during the 2019-20 campaign, when The Cru beat Hardin-Simmons, 60-58.
- UMHB’s +11 rebounding margin is the highest since outrebounding Howard Payne by +18 in a win on Feb. 3.
- The 29-point margin of victory is The Cru’s fourth-largest of the 2023-24 season.
- UMHB shot 46.9% (30-of-64) from the field, marking the sixth time this season that the Crusaders have shot 46 percent or better.
- Interestingly, while UMHB and Ozarks have met every year as ASC opponents, this marked the first time since the 2014 ASC Tournament, and the second time in ASC history, that the two met in the postseason.
- UMHB won that meeting, played on Feb. 28, 2014 in Tyler, Texas, by a score of 81-72.
- Ashley Faux’s team-high nine rebounds marked the sixth time this season that she recorded nine or more boards in a contest.
- The senior forward now has 479 rebounds in her collegiate career, and is 21 rebounds shy of the monumental 500-rebound mark.
