BELTON- There was nothing but silence inside the UMHB locker room. And yet, everyone had the same thought.
This was not the way it was supposed to go, ending the regular season with a loss on senior day to a rival that broke a 20-game win streak and perfect conference record. The emotions from the Crusaders postgame were that of a season-ending defeat, rather than a regular-season meeting.
LONGVIEW- The shots were not falling for either team on Monday night.
So the defense took center stage, and the UMHB women’s basketball team proved it can win in more ways than one, holding LeTourneau to just five fourth-quarter points for a 57-39 road victory.
RICHARDSON- The last time UMHB and UT-Dallas battled, it took the Cru overcoming a seven-point deficit and an overtime period to decide the victor.
But on Sunday afternoon, in what UTD head coach Polly Thomason called “a matchup of two good game plans defensively”, UMHB led for 66 percent of the game, and perhaps more importantly, held the lead as the final buzzer sounded. No buzzer-beating shots, or late scoring runs necessary. UMHB earned the 55-46 victory, its 16th straight, and moved to 14-0 in ASC play.
BELTON- Sudden change.
It was a theme of last season, whether you look at the Covid cancellations, or postponement of games due to the winter storm. And this season, though in a lesser amount, the same two reasons have contributed to the shifting of the UMHB women’s basketball team’s schedule.
BELTON- The Mark Morefield era reached a notable high on Saturday afternoon.
The UMHB women’s basketball team, ranked No. 20 in the nation, extended its win streak to 15 games in a 72-48 victory over McMurry, led by 14 points from Arieona Rosborough and 13 from Alexia Martin. It is the longest win streak in Morefield’s seven-year tenure in Belton, as the Cru is now 13-0 in conference action, having not lost since Nov. 26.
BELTON- For UMHB women’s basketball head coach Mark Morefield, the final 10 minutes of even the most critical games have been what separates the Crusaders, 11-0 in American Southwest Conference play, from the rest of the field this season.