Strong final quarter lifts UMHB Women’s Basketball to 78-65 win at La Verne

Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/Backwards Hat Media

LA VERNE, California — Katie Novak-Lenoir and her team knew the pieces would eventually come together. The talent was there. So was the experience. It just took a little more time than expected for that breakthrough to emerge. 

But when it did on Monday afternoon against La Verne, it was evident, translating to The Cru’s most complete performance to date. In the third and final game of a four-day stretch in the Golden State, UMHB shot 52.1% from the field, hit a season-high 11 3-pointers, outrebounded the Leopards by +6, dished out 16 assists, and forced 23 turnovers. 

Those elements were no more visible than in the fourth quarter, as the Crusaders closed on a 13-3 run over the final 5:39, and secured their first win of the season, 78-65. 

“I’m really proud of the way we bounced back after a rough start,” Novak-Lenoir, UMHB’s third-year head coach, said of the victory. “The ball moved in our offense and we did a good job getting deflections and winning hustle plays on defense. It was a much-needed finish to this trip. Onward!” 

UMHB had struggled in the second half of its previous two West Coast duels. On Friday, an 18-7 third-quarter run put the game away for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. On Saturday, The Cru was within striking distance of Redlands before a 32-point fourth quarter from the Bulldogs swung the game in favor of the hosts. 

But the opposite unfolded on Monday, as The Cru, who trailed 38-35 at halftime, surged ahead of La Verne down the stretch. With three minutes left in the third quarter, the Leopards—who held a narrow 50-48 lead—turned it over on a bad pass that sailed directly into the hands of Mia Lozoya. Lozoya made a pass to Katelen Brooks in transition, who then found a wide-open Amari Welch cutting along the baseline towards the basket for a game-tying layup. That stop-and-score sequence ignited a 9-3 run for the Crusaders with Welch as the offensive catalyst. 

The sophomore guard had been on the verge of a breakthrough performance, as she scored 22 points over her first four games as a Crusader after missing the entirety of her 2024-25 season at Tyler Junior College with an injury. And that breakthrough came when UMHB needed it most, as she scored 10 points in a span of nearly six minutes between the third and fourth quarters. 

After her layup to tie it at 50-50, Welch found herself all alone on an offensive rebound on UMHB’s next possession. Unblocked, with a clear path to the rim, she scored easily on a putback for The Cru’s first lead since the 6:27 mark of the second quarter.

One possession later, she connected from beyond the arc, draining a 3-pointer from the left wing as UMHB moved the ball quickly up the court. Welch had seven of UMHB’s nine points in the quarter-closing run, and picked it back up in the forth, drawing a charge to end La Verne’s second offensive possession. Less than a minute later, off an inbounds pass, she caught the ball at least three feet beyond the 3-point line. With less than three ticks left on the shot clock, Welch fired up a long 3 that found nothing but the bottom of the net, pushing UMHB’s lead back out to five. 

The Cru never wavered down the stretch, and La Verne slowly fell away, with UMHB’s shot-making complemented by consistent stops from the zone defense.

With 5:35 left, Josie Bruder—who led The Cru with 24 points in the win—connected on a 3-pointer that doubled the Crusader lead after La Verne cut the deficit to three. Bruder’s fourth trey of the afternoon seemingly took the wind out of the Leopards’ sails, sparking a stretch in which UMHB made three of its next five shots while La Verne went 1-of-8 from the field in the same span.

Five different Crusaders scored over the final six minutes, as the advantage widened to as many as 14 points on a pair of free throws from Amillion Fowler. 

UMHB saw a level of offensive continuity it hadn’t had in previous games, either, shooting above 50% in all four quarters, while connecting on four 3-point attempts in the first 10 minutes alone. The Cru came out of the gate with intensity and finished that same way, an impressive aspect of a win that came on the heels of a long trip west and two games in two days just 48 hours before. 

Bruder, who played all 40 minutes in the win, not only led the way in the scoring department (shooting 6-of-9 on FGs, 4-of-6 on 3pt, and 8-of-9 on FTs) but also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Fowler added 17 points and six rebounds, and Brooks came through with 15 points. UMHB’s starting five tallied 63 points, and for the first time this season, four players—Bruder, Fowler, Brooks, and Welch—scoring in double figures. Alongside Welch, Lozoya gave The Cru productive minutes off the bench, converting on both of her shots along with four rebounds and a pair of steals in 18 minutes. 

The home portion of non-conference play continues for The Cru on Saturday, as they host undefeated Southwestern (3-0) at 1 p.m. in Belton. That duel begins a stretch of four straight home games for Novak-Lenoir’s squad.