Nov. 17, 2007

Final Stats

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Hardin-Simmons received 42 points from its bench, including a career-best 22 by junior Mollie Brawner as the Cowgirl basketball team defeated Benedictine, 67-55,in its season opener, Saturday afternoon in the Trinity Invitational in San Antonio.

The Cowgirl defense limited BU to 35.4 percent shooting, including a 7-for-24 effort in the first half. HSU forced 23 turnovers and defeated the bigger Eagles on the boards 43-36. HSU led 32-23 at halftime.

HSU freshman post player Lindsey Newcombe was stellar in her debut in the post with a double-double off the bench. She had 15 points and 10 rebounds, with 11 points and six rebounds coming in the second half.

Senior Rachel Cisneroz led the Cowgirl starters with 14 points and she also handed out a team-high five assists. Kristen Harris had nine rebounds off the bench.

Blair Erickson hit a 3-pointer for Benedictine to cut what had been a 13-point Cowgirl lead to 38-37 with 11:34 to play, but HSU responded with an immediate 8-0 run to push the lead back to nine and take control of the game. In the run, Brawner and Newcombe each had four points and HSU led 46-37 with 8:49 to play.

After that Benedictine hit another 3-pointer, Brawner scored seven more points over the next three minutes and HSU pushed the lead to 14 at 58-44 with 5:11 to play.

A Cisneroz 3-pointer with 3:56 to play gave the Cowgirls their biggest lead of the game at 61-46.

HSU outscored BU 36-14 in the paint and 27-9 off of turnovers. The story of the game was the bench play as HSU led 42-1 off the bench.

All-American Tamika Curtis had 16 points and seven rebounds for BU, below her averages from a year ago of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Monica Krezel had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

The Cowgirls (1-0) will play Trinity at 4 p.m. on Sunday.