SAN ANTONIO – Junior guard Rachel Arthur scored 20 points – one shy of tying her career high – as HBU women's basketball bounced back from Thursday's loss to defeat Incarnate Word, 70-65, Saturday afternoon from McDermott Center.

Arthur went 9-for-16 from the floor and 2-for-3 from the charity stripe, while pulling down three rebounds and recording one steal to lead HBU (10-13 overall, 6-6 SLC). Shanice Steenholdt scored 11 points, as she was limited to 22 minutes and was in foul trouble throughout most of the game. She grabbed 10 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the season. Ashleigh Nwanguma played seven minutes and had one rebound in her first action of the season.

Ify More led three players in double figures for Incarnate Word (8-14 overall, 2-8 SLC), as she scored 17 points on just 2-of-7 shooting, but went 13-for-15 from the free-throw line. Kosisio Mora scored 15 points while Rose Whitehead chipped in with 13. Mora grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for the Cardinals.

Tied 9-9 with 14:53 remaining in the first half, HBU went on a 6-2 run for its largest lead of the half, 15-11, with 12:07 to go. Steenholdt had the first four points and Arthur ended the run with a layup.

A four-minute dry spell allowed the Cardinals to catch up, but Monet Neal's jumper gave the Huskies the lead again, 17-16, with 8:25 remaining in the first half.

The teams were knotted at 21-all with 3:47 remaining before UIW closed out the first half on an 8-3 run to take a 29-23 lead into halftime. Four of HBU's five starters were on the bench in foul trouble.

Steenholdt and Arthur each scored a team-high six points for HBU in the first half, while Mora scored a half-high 10 points for the Cardinals.

HBU started the second half on a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to three, 36-33, and force UIW to take a timeout at the 16:40-mark.
An Anna Strickland steal resulted in an old-fashioned three-point play for Wiebke Bruns to tie the game at 38-all with 13-and-a-half to go in regulation. The Huskies took their first lead of the second half on another "and-one" play, this time a layup by Arthur, assisted by Bruns, as HBU led UIW, 41-38, with 13:11 remaining in the game.

Tied 44-all with 10:38 remaining, HBU six of the next eight points to lead the Cardinals by four, 50-46, with 7:11 to go in regulation.

UIW came to within one, 52-51, but a key Arthur layup in heavy traffic along the baseline followed by a three-pointer by Tayler Jefferson gave the Huskies a six-point advantage, 57-51, with 3:43 to go in the second half. After two made free throws, Neal made a three-point play to give the Huskies a seven-point lead, 60-53, with three minutes to go.

Bruns' layup, assisted by Heidi Sihvola, gave the Huskies their largest lead of the game, nine points, 62-53, and forced the Cardinals to take a timeout with 90 seconds remaining in regulation. UIW made a comeback, as Cardinals' free throws and a trey by Mora cut the Huskies' lead to just four, 69-65, with 12 seconds remaining and a Cardinals' timeout. But that was the closest UIW would come, as HBU held on for the five-point win.

HBU returns home for five of the final six games of the regular season, beginning next Thursday, Feb. 13 at 5 pm against Oral Roberts in the "Play 4 Kay" Breast Cancer Awareness game.