Box Score

CEDAR CITY, Utah – Houston Baptist led Southern Utah by three, 29-26, at the break, but shot just 24 percent in the second half, compared to 54 percent for SUU, as Southern Utah defeated the Huskies 79-58 Monday evening from the Spectrum Center.

Shanice Steenholdt led HBU (2-10) with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Devyn Weymouth scored 10 points and led the Huskies with two 3-pointers made. Wiebke Bruns scored seven points in her Husky debut.

Marquelee Funk scored a team-high 14 points for Southern Utah (5-4), while Sofia Hepworth scored 12 and Kimie Hawkins added 11. Carli Moreland grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

The two teams traded baskets in the early goings before a Steenholdt three-pointer gave the Huskies a 9-6 lead with just under 17 minutes left in the opening half.

HBU had its largest lead of the half thus far, at five, as Steenholdt hit a layup and Rachel Arthur drained a trey in a span of just 10 seconds, as HBU led the Thunderbirds 19-14 with 8:45 left in the first half.

With HBU leading 25-21 with 3:18 remaining, SUU used a 5-0 run to take a 26-25 lead with just under two minutes left in the first half.

But Steenholdt put the Huskies ahead again as she stole the ball and went in for the layup. The Huskies increased their lead as Ashleigh Nwanguma made a layup following a steal as HBU led 29-24 at the break.

Steenholdt led all players with 15 points and was tied with Tayler Jefferson and Nwanguma with three rebounds apiece. Sofia Hepworth and Tayler Anderson both lead SUU with four points, while Carli Moreland had a half-high five rebounds.

HBU ran into a much more aggressive SUU team in the start of the second half, as Kimie Hawkins and Marquelee Funk hit back-to-back buckets to give the Thunderbirds a 30-29 lead less than a minute into the second half.

A pair of Wiebke Bruns free throws gave HBU a 31-30 lead, and after trading baskets, the two teams were tied at 36-all after a jumper by Steenholdt with 17:13 left in the second half.

HBU went cold for the next five minutes, as SUU went on an 11-0 run for its largest lead thus far of the game, at 47-36, with 13:10 remaining. A layup by Steenholdt at the 12:54-mark stopped the bleeding.

Unfortunately, the Thunderbirds kept rolling, scoring the next seven points to take a 54-38 lead with 10 minutes left.
Four-straight points on a basket by Ekemini Essien and two free throws by Devyn Weymouth made the score 58-43, but SUU scored 11 of the next 13 points to lead HBU 69-45 with 5:36 left in the second half. SUU outscored HBU 10-8 the rest of the way for the 21-point lead.

HBU returns home to face future Southland Conference member Lamar at Sharp Gym on Fri., Dec. 21 at 6 pm.