COMMERCE, Texas – HCU trailed by 10 before getting back to within three in the fourth quarter but was unable to close the gap completely, falling in Southland Conference women's basketball action to East Texas A&M, 53-45, on Thursday evening at the Field House.
After a
Jo Oly layup put HCU (6-22, 3-16 SLC) ahead 4-3 early but the Lions (7-20, 4-14 SLC) registered the next eight points to lead 11-4 before
Hannah Fields got the Huskies back on the board with a three for an 11-7 game after the first quarter.
The Huskies scored the first six points of the second quarter with a
Victoria Dixon jumper putting HCU back ahead, 13-11, at the 6:02 mark. Less than a minute later another Dixon bucket gave the Huskies a two-point lead but the hosts went on a 7-0 run for a 20-15 advantage. Trailing by five with two minutes left in the half,
Erin Maguire knocked down a pair of free throws and then made a layup with 36 seconds on the clock to cut the HCU deficit to one, 22-21, before a Nina Horvath three at the buzzer pushed it to 25-21 at the break.
Maguire and Dixon made the first two baskets of the second half to even the score at 25-25 but the Lions again had an answer, netting the next four points. Just a minute later, trailing by six, Dixon and Maguire again scored on consecutive possessions to trim it back down to just a one-point deficit, 33-32. Cora Horvath answered with a triple and a jumper to bring the score to 38-32 at the end of the third.
That lead grew to 10 within the first minute of the fourth but the Huskies were able to fight back within three, 43-40, with 6:15 left to play. Nina Horvath pushed it back to six with a three and HCU was only able to get as close as four, on two occasions, the rest of the way.
Maguire led the Huskies with a 14-point effort, shooting 5-of-11 from the floor. Dixon added 11, going 5-of-12 from the field, while Tullis finished the night with eight points and nine rebounds. Fields finished with eight points and eight boards while
Amy Cotton also pulled down eight rebounds.
The Huskies won the battle of the boards, 45-36, but turned the ball over 13 times to the Lions' eight. HCU ended the night shooting 28.6 percent (16-of-56) from the field compared to ETAMU's 31.5 percent (17-of-54).
The Huskies will close out the 2024-25 campaign this Saturday, Mar. 1, afternoon in Natchitoches, La. against Northwestern State at 1:00 p.m.
