SAN ANTONIO – The HBU women's basketball team scored 40 of their 62 points in the second have to squeak past the UIW Cardinals 62-57 inside of the Alice P. McDermott Convocation Center Thursday night.
 
The Huskies (6-7, 2-0 SLC) struggled to get buckets in the first half of the game. Half of their 14 turnovers came in the first quarter, while they shot 2-11 from the field in the first quarter and 2-10 from the field as a team in the second quarter. The Cardinals (4-9, 0-2 SLC) on the other hand came out hot, sinking eight of their first 16 shots in the first quarter to jump out to a 17-7 lead heading into the second period. The Cardinals cooled off offensively in the second quarter, making only five of their 14 shots. While they still struggled from the field, the Huskies became more aggressive by attacking the basket which led to five Cardinal fouls. The Huskies knocked down all 10 of their free throws in the quarter and went into halftime trailing 30-22.
 
The Huskies shot the ball much better in the second half, knocking down 17 of 31 from the field, good for 55 percent. The Huskies opened the quarter on a 14-7 run, including seven points from Timia Jefferson and a knock down three ball from Lauryn Mapusua to cut the Cardinals lead to just one. After a Jaaucklyn Moore made layup, the Huskies briefly tied it up on a Jefferson made free throw and a mid-range jumper from Marilyn Nzoiwu, before the Cardinals made a layup on their next trip down. Nzoiwu hit another mid-range jumper with 40 seconds left in the period and time ticking down on the shot clock to tie things up at 41 to end the third quarter.
 
After giving up a layup and a made free throw to open the final period, the Huskies went on an 11-8 run including six consecutive points from N'Denasija Collins, a layup from Timia Jefferson, and a made three pointer from Enya Maguire to even things up with just four minutes to play. The Huskies would lock in defensively the rest of the way, forcing misses which would lead to easy fast-break baskets.

With three minutes left, the Huskies forced a Cardinal turnover which led to a three on one Husky fast break which ended in a Collins made layup on an assist from Kennedy Wilson. The Cardinals next trip down ended on a missed layup forced by great defense from Collins which led to a Nzoiwu mid-range jumper on the other end. Jefferson stripped the ball from the Cardinals defender near half court before taking it down for a wide open layup to extend the Huskies lead to 58-52 with 1:50 left in the game. After a made three from the Cardinals, Wilson hit a pull up jump shot from the foul line with 50 seconds left to extend the lead to five to just about iced the game for the Huskies. UIW played the foul game the rest of the way which went in the Huskies favor, as they closed the game out 62-57.
 
When asked about the team performance, head coach Donna Finnie said, "I wasn't happy tonight with how much we played on our heels offensively which is so out of character for this group recently. However, when it mattered we went back to the defensive intensity we have talked about this week in practice. Those forced turnovers turned the game for us as I thought UIW had played great defensively and had taken us out of what we wanted to do."
 
For the game, Collins nearly earned her fifth double-double of the season, dropping 16 points (7-12 FG) and nine rebounds. Jefferson had 15 points and three steals while Wilson added eight points four assists and three boards. Maguire hit a few clutch three pointers en route to seven points and three assists. Mapusua had a huge game off the bench. In just ten minutes of floor time, she made two of three three-points attempts and knocked down all four chances she had at the foul line for 10 points.
 
"I have to mention the minutes we got from Lauryn Mapusua and Enya Maguire tonight," Finnie said. "They both stepped up when we were having a bad offensive night and helped us with big makes."
 
The next time the Huskies take the floor will be Saturday afternoon in Corpus Christi when they take on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders at 1:00 p.m.