HOUSTON – The HBU women's basketball team stormed back from a Texas A&M Corpus Christi 18 point lead in the second half to win Saturday afternoon in Sharp Gym. The win moves the Huskies into the solo lead in the Southland Conference with just two games remaining on the schedule.
 
HBU (14-9, 10-2 SLC) pushed their win streak to nine while head coach Donna Finnie picked up her 99^th win in her coaching career at HBU. Their 10^th conference win is the most they have had in a season under Finnie's guide.
 
After falling behind by as many as seven in the first quarter, the Huskies closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run on a mid-range turnaround jump shot from Timia Jefferson, a Marilyn Nzoiwu layup on a beautiful pass from Julija Vujakovic, and a pair of free throws from Kennedy Wilson.
 
The second quarter is when the Islanders (17-9, 9-3 SLC) clicking on both ends of the floor. Defensively, they held the Huskies to just 2-12 shooting from the field and 0-3 from distance. Corpus forced four Husky turnovers in the period which led to seven fast break points and 20 total in the quarter on 9-15 shooting. Over the last five minutes of the second quarter, the Islanders went on a 14-4 run and their lead ballooned to 15, 36-21, heading into the half.
 
After a quick three points to open the third quarter, Finnie subbed in Lauryn Mapusua who would prove to be the spark the Huskies needed to get back into the game. She made big time buckets and forced three Corpus turnovers by drawing charges in her 13 second half minutes.
 
In her first possession on the floor, Mapusua drove into the lane, got fouled and knocked down one of two free throws. She was fouled again on the teams next trip down and sank both free throw opportunities. After forcing a miss on the defensive end, Nzoiwu grabbed one of her 13 rebounds and hit Wilson on the outlet who walked into an open three pointer. A few possessions later, Wilson found Mapusua on the right wing who knocked down a long three to cut the lead to nine and force the Islanders into a timeout.
 
Coming out of the timeout, the Huskies outscored the Islanders 9-4 over the remainder of the third quarter to cut the lead that was once 18 all the way down to four.
 
Both teams shot the ball well in the fourth, but the Huskies were able to get to the foul line 10 times compared to the Islanders one attempt. HBU opened the fourth on a five to two run to get the team back to within one. The Islanders made layups, including an and-one, on their next two trips down and got back out to a six point lead to end the Huskies rally. Wilson had other ideas though as she made a contested three on a pass from Jefferson. Vujakovic forced a turnover on the Islanders next trip down the floor and hit a streaking Jefferson who got fouled on her shot attempt. She made both free throws and got it back to a one point game. Wilson forced yet another turnover for the Huskies and hit Jefferson on the left wing who drained a long ball to finally give the Huskies the lead.
 
Alecia Westbrook evened things back up before Vujakovic hit a cold blooded three with a minute and 15 seconds left in the game, which would prove to ice the game for the Huskies, who would walk away winners 58-54.
   
Nzoiwu had a huge game for HBU, earning a double-double with a team high 13 points and 13 boards while adding a couple of blocks and a steal. Jefferson joined Nzoiwu with 13 points while Wilson had 11 points, four assists, and four steals. Abbey Sutherland had seven points and five boards while Vujakovic had seven points and three assists. Mapusua had seven huge points off the bench along with two boards in her 13 minutes of the game.
 
The Huskies hit the road one last time to face New Orleans in a rare Wednesday night contest which will air live on ESPN+, before returning home Saturday afternoon for senior day.