Photo by Riley Zayas
BROWNWOOD, Texas — Howard Payne’s Amaris Ambriz swished her third 3-pointer of the afternoon with 5.9 seconds left, lifting the Lady Jackets to a dramatic 60-59 victory over UMHB women’s basketball inside Brownwood Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
Ambriz’s 3 was the difference in a tightly-contested ASC battle that featured eight lead changes and was tied seven times. The win gave HPU (10-10, 1-0 ASC) its first 10-win season since the 2020-21 campaign, as the Lady Jackets outrebounded the Crusaders by 6 and outscored them in each of the final two quarters.
UMHB, who led 35-27 at halftime but surrendered a 22-14 third-quarter run, left Brownwood with a third-straight conference loss.
For UMHB head coach Katie Novak-Lenoir, the result boiled down to one thing: effort on the defensive end. HPU made eight of its first 12 shots of the second half, four of which came from beyond the arc.
“We can’t play any defense without having effort from five people on the floor,” Novak-Lenoir said postgame. “Today, I couldn’t find a group of five that gave effort consistently. I don’t understand it. There’s no excuse for it. It shouldn’t have even come down to one shot at the end. But they out-rebounded us and out-hustled us.”
In a similar story to Thursday’s home loss to Hardin-Simmons, The Cru put together a solid first two quarters but struggled down the stretch, closing the game by shooting 3-of-13 in the fourth. Leading scorer Amillion Fowler, who had 17 points at halftime, was scoreless over the final two quarters, as HPU’s defense ramped up its physicality and aggressiveness.
Cailtlin Parsons paced the Lady Jackets with a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double, with eight of those rebounds coming in the second half. Hope Hermesmeyer accounted for 12 of HPU’s 24 bench points, including a jumper with 5:17 to go that gave HPU a four-point lead.
That lead was the Lady Jackets’ largest advantage in the final 20 minutes, though The Cru countered as HPU fell into a cold shooting stretch. Josie Bruder converted on a pair of free throws and Katelen Brooks got a corner 3 to roll in with 2:06 left, putting UMHB back in front, 58-57. Between Hermesmeyer’s jumper and Ambriz’s go-ahead 3, the hosts went five minutes, 11 seconds without scoring, as the visitors from Belton pieced together a 6-0 run to go up by two.
Even with the second-half struggles, the door remained open for UMHB to hold onto a road win in its second-to-last regular season game away from Belton. But HPU’s final play saw Hermesmeyer evade Rachel Okoye’s attempted steal near midcourt and drive towards the basket before passing to Parsons on the perimeter. Parsons, who shot 6-of-10, drew multiple defenders to her, opening up the 3-point shot for Ambriz with Parsons providing the assist.
UMHB got one final shot off an inbounds play at the buzzer, with Katelen Brooks putting up a turnaround jumper that had a chance to fall in. But the shot was narrowly off the mark and bounced off the rim and away, sealing HPU’s victory.
“We’ve said it a million times,” Novak-Lenoir said afterwards. “Every single conference game is going to be a battle.”
UMHB went to its full-court pressure from the jump, and forced a bad pass turnover on the Yellow Jackets’ first possession, building early defensive momentum. But HPU established its offensive flow soon enough, building out a 10-4 lead when Azaylee Santos connected on a 3-pointer from the right corner.
But The Cru answered quickly. Novak-Lenoir called a timeout immediately following Santos’ 3 and rallied her squad, who got a jumper from Fowler on its first possession coming out of the break, then forced back-to-back HPU turnovers.
The first of those two saw Fowler grab the loose ball and loft a deep pass to Okoye, who was all alone ahead of the fast-retreating Yellow Jacket defenders. The second turnover produced points too, and once again included Fowler, as the senior sank a midrange shot that tied the score at 10 apiece.
Those points off turnovers fueled what turned out to be a 16-0 run that carried into the end of the first quarter and the opening minute of the second. Fowler had nine points through the first 10 minutes and then connected from 3-point range on UMHB’s first second-quarter possession, producing a 20-10 lead after Madyson Solis came up with a steal.
But HPU refused to go away, and the breakdowns began for UMHB on the defensive end, allowing the Lady Jackets to whittle the lead down entirely before going up 24-23 on a 3 from Ambriz. After four quick points for The Cru, Kaley Nicholson knocked down a 3 of her, knotting the score at 27-27. The final three minutes belonged to The Cru, however, as they closed the half with momentum, scoring 10 of the final 13 points, capped by Josie Bruder’s buzzer-beating jumpshot.
The third quarter was a turning point in a game that saw neither side truly gain separation. The offense had traction, going up by as many as eight and later by seven on Bruder’s first 3 of the contest with 5:41 left in the quarter. But each time, the Lady Jackets seemed to surge, making it a one-possession game again within two minutes. After the third time—when Bruder put UMHB up 5 on a 3—HPU cut the deficit to three points or less for good. Caitlyn Panuco, who entered Saturday as HPU’s go-to scorer, sank a 3 just 16 seconds later, followed by a Taylor McAfee free throw for a one-point game.
With the home crowd behind them, the hosts had a few plays go their way in the final two minutes, none bigger than what transpired in the last 10 seconds. It appeared as though UMHB would get the ball and have an opportunity to take the final shot of the quarter after the ball went out-of-bounds on HPU. But the inbounds pass to Fowler was mishandled, and Hermesmeyer immediately gathered the loose ball, giving possession to the Lady Jackets, who then got Panuco to the free throw line. She made 1-of-2, but it tied the score heading into the fourth. The game was either tied or led by HPU for the next 7:55.
In addition to Fowler’s 17, Bruder added 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting and Okoye had 12 along with a team-high six rebounds and five assists. Okoye also tallied six steals, marking her seventh game this season with four or more steals.
With three games left on its regular season slate—two of which will be at home–-the focus for The Cru moving forward will be on developing the very things that held them back in Brownwood: competitiveness, effort, toughness. Only three weeks remain before the decisive ASC Tournament on Feb. 27-28, and this team is faced with a decision on how it will respond to its 0-3 start to league play. The conference gauntlet continues next Saturday in Belton against ETBU (15-5, 1-1 ASC).
“We’re not keeping things the same in practice next week,” Novak-Lenoir said matter-of-factly. “It’s not about talent. Because we have it. It’s about competitiveness, toughness, and want-to.”
