Nov. 26, 2004

ABILENE, Texas - Lyssa Dennard scored 13 points and Magna Green had 12 points and 11 rebounds of the bench as fourth-ranked Hardin-Simmons opened its women's basketball season with an exciting 65-62 win over No. 10 Trinity, Friday evening at the Mabee Complex.

Trinity opened up its biggest lead of the game at the 13:40 mark when Amy Howe's 3-pointer made it 41-33. The Cowgirls called a timeout and cut the deficit to 43-38. Trinity then pushed it back out to eight at 50-42 with 9:11 to play.

Hsu trailed 60-54 with 3:07 to go in the game, but went on a 11-2 run to close the game. Melissa Forth scored on a back-door lay-up from Magna Green at the 2:51 mark. All-American candidate Diana Martinez then hit a 3-pointer from the left win to make it 60-59 with 1:45 to play.

Amy Howe missed a pair of free throws for Trinity with :37 left and Lyssa Dennard got free and scored on a pass from Diana Martinez. Dennard was fouled and made the free throw to make it 62-60 with :32 to play. Howe then tied the game for the Tigers at 62-62 with a pair of free throws with 1:17 to play.

HSU then executed a perfect offense and Melissa Henley got one-on-one in the post and scored to give the Cowgirls a 64-62 lead. After a pair of timeouts, Howe threw the ball away for her 11th turnover of the night. Forth hit a free throw after a foul to seal the game.

It was the season opener for the Cowgirls and they turned the ball over 27 times and lost the battle of the board 41-29, but its defense is what carried them to victory. Trinity turned the ball over 11 times and went 8-for-19 from the free throw line.

Martinez added 11 points and six assists for the Cowgirls, despite missing about eight minutes in the second half after picking up her fourth foul. Jenna Smith was stellar for the Tigers with 19 points, seven rebounds, six steals and four assists. Jennifer Farrar had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Howe chipped in 17 points.

Trinity fell to 3-1 on the year and the Cowgirls are 1-0. HSU hosts UT-Dallas in the conference opener at 5:30 on Saturday.