"They played for the seniors today": UMHB women's basketball dominates Howard Payne in 71-44 win

BELTON — Coming off a statement 15-point win over rival Hardin-Simmons, and having already locked up the No. 3 seed in the American Southwest Conference tournament, Saturday’s regular season finale against Howard Payne was ripe with opportunity for a letdown.

But from the jump, it was clear The Cru had no intention of holding back. And there was nothing HPU could do to stand in the way.

By the 6:41 mark of the opening quarter, it was 11-2 in favor of UMHB, with five early points from Josie Bruder leading the way. Once Katelen Brooks scored four straight points, the lead widened to 20-2. When the final buzzer sounded on the first quarter, The Cru’s commanding advantage had swelled to 24-2.

HPU struggled to finish possessions, and UMHB had no problem capitalizing. When Lexi Clements’ 3-pointer fell through the net off a well-placed pass from Amillion Fowler, the scoreboard said it all: UMHB, 40, HPU, 3.

There is dominance. And then there’s a 40-3 run to open the second game in a three-day span. Nine different players scored over the first two quarters, a span in which UMHB shot 53.5 percent from the field, deciding the end result well before halftime. Committed to making it a fitting final home game for the three seniors on the roster—Jaycie Brisco, Remi Adeleke, and Makayla Ward—UMHB rode the early momentum to a 71-44 victory.

“We talked a lot about the finality of senior day and the last home game,” UMHB head coach Katie Novak-Lenoir said postgame. “We had people like Makayla Ward getting to step out on the floor. She thought she’d be able to play, and never got to put the jersey back on [due to another season-ending injury]. I felt like they could see that happening, and they’ve seen a lot of what she’s been through the past couple years. They played for the seniors today.”

The tribute to Ward in the opening seconds of the contest was memorable, as the senior from Pflugerville was on the floor for the opening tip—the first and last start of her collegiate career. Not only was it a touching moment when Ward’s name was called in the starting lineup, but Novak-Lenoir said HPU head coach Presley Fisk was completely on board when she brought up her plan to start Ward and sub her out immediately after tip-off, giving the fourth-year Crusader one final appearance on the court.

“I truly appreciate the sportsmanship she showed in helping us make that happen,” Novak-Lenoir said of Fisk postgame.

A resilient contributor to the program through all four years, Ward went through four surgeries in four years during her time in Belton, remaining a leader for her teammates through the unanticipated adversity time and time again. Prior to the 2024-25 season, she was injured again, which as Novak-Lenoir noted, ended any chance of being an on-court contributor this winter.

As she was subbed out two seconds into the contest, amidst an ovation from the crowd and hugs from her teammates and coaches, it was a fitting example of what Senior Day, especially in Division III, stands for. Over the course of four years, and in Ward’s case, four years spent with the same program, those who reach Senior Day have endured plenty of hills and valleys. It’s the fact that they’ve stuck with it through those challenges that remains most impressive.

Brisco made her Senior Day performance impressive in its own right, as the senior guard came away with 10 points and a team-high 14 rebounds; her third straight double-double and seventh this season. It was Brisco’s 3-pointer in transition that extended the lead to 33-3 midway through the second quarter, and early in the third, she displayed her reputation for being the ultimate do-it-all player, scoring on a layup, then coming up with a steal moments later. She kept the ball from bouncing out of bounds and passed to Rachel Okoye, who scored easily for a 44-14 advantage. Known for her defense and rebounding, Brisco closes the regular season far and away as the ASC’s leading rebounder. With 36 boards over the last three games, her average rose to 8.6, with 206 total this season. The No. 2 mark in the ASC? Hardin-Simmons’ Jacqueline Berry, at 6.8.

Brisco’s tenacity in the rebounding column led the charge in a team-wide effort to attack the boards, even more of an emphasis point on Saturday after only narrowly winning the rebounding battle in Thursday’s win over Hardin-Simmons. The Cru finished with a +21 margin, grabbing 53 rebounds to HPU’s 32, the fourth-most in a game this season.

“We should be rebounding at that level every time,” Novak-Lenoir said. “There were still times I thought we got lazy on it or assumed a shot was going in. That doesn’t make a good offensive rebounder, if you just assume your team is going to make shots.

“You have to have confidence in your teammate, but in your mind, you always need to go get the offensive rebound. We’re doing that better in spurts, but we still need to get a lot more consistent.”

One of those stretches came late in the contest, in the first 7:30 of the fourth quarter. UMHB pulled down five offensive rebounds in that span, scoring off two of them. The Cru finished with 16 offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points.

The effort level in the game’s later stages with the win well in hand was a crucial point for UMHB’s big-picture focus. With the postseason less than a week away, putting together a quality finish with a complete four-quarter performance

“That was important, and that’s tough, especially since I felt like we were fouling for a while and weren’t getting to the rim very well,” Novak-Lenoir said of maintaining the intensity. “You have to get back to what you’re doing and what’s working well.

“If you have flat feet on defense, you’re coming out. If you’re not sprinting the floor, you’re coming out. We need to do these things all the time. Whether we’re up 100 or down 100, I would expect you to be giving the same effort. Again, I think they did a good job of realizing the finality of the final home game. There would be a little lull, but then we’d pick it back up.”

The Crusaders tallied 23 fast-break points—their most in an ASC game this season—with 14 steals on the defensive end playing into the scoring opportunities in transition. Junior guard Rachel Okoye was key in getting that going early, scoring four of her six first-quarter points on fast breaks, including a layup with 1:47 left for UMHB’s first 20-point lead of the afternoon.

Okoye finished as UMHB’s high scorer with 16 points, going 8-of-10 from the field. She also accounted for 12 of The Cru’s 36 points in the paint, and had 10 points in the second half.

UMHB now looks ahead to a rematch against Hardin-Simmons in Marshall, Texas next Friday, with a spot in the ASC title game on the line. The Cru took down HSU twice in the regular season, winning 74-68 in Abilene and 75-60 in Belton. The ASC semifinal will tip off at 5 p.m. and marks the second straight year in which UMHB has faced Hardin-Simmons in the conference tournament.