NEW YORK – The Millsaps women's basketball team battled nationally ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor to the final whistle before falling, 68-65 in the D3 NYC Invitational inside ARC Arena on the campus of Baruch College on Wednesday.
 
UMHB entered the game ranked No. 24 in the WBCA NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll and receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Women's Top 25 Poll. Both teams also began the contest on 10-game winning streaks.
 
Millsaps (10-2, 1-0 SAA) outshot the Cru 43.8 percent (25-of-57) to 30.7 percent (23-of-75), but UMHB was extremely efficient at 87.5 percent from the free-throw line (17-of-21). The Cru owned the turnover battle (19 to 25), while the Majors bettered their opponents in the paint (40-28).
 
Sophomore Elyse Warren generated 14 points, a block and a career-high 15 rebounds. Junior Haley Franklin recorded 18 points, five rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal. Senior Helena Roe chipped in 13 points, two blocks and three steals, three assists and three rebounds, while freshman Garin Freeman added seven points, four assists, two steals and a board.
 
The Majors opened the game strong, taking a 15-8 lead punctuated by a Roe 3-pointer. UMHB responded to close the first quarter, trailing 19-16.
 
However, the Major margin would grow to 12 points courtesy of another Roe trey. Millsaps would hold a 34-22 advantage with 3:43 until halftime. The Cru cut into the deficit once more and trailed 38-31 at intermission.
 
Franklin began the second half with a nifty layup from junior Whitney Novak, which was quickly followed by a Novak layup from Franklin. Millsaps later built its largest lead at 49-36 with 3:49 left in the third quarter. A late 14-1 rally made the teams tied at 50-50 entering the final quarter.
 
After UMHB took a brief lead to begin the fourth, Roe knocked down yet another trey (3-of-4 3FG) and Franklin netted a layup to give the Majors a 55-52 advantage. With the teams knotted up at 57-57, Freeman and Franklin would net made baskets, while Freeman sunk an additional pair of free throws to give Millsaps a 63-57 lead with 4:46 to play.
 
The Cru responded with a 7-0 run, which included a span of offensive fouls, stingy defense both ways, missed free throws and turnovers, resulting in a 64-63 score with 56.6 seconds remaining.
 
UMHB added a pair of free-throw makes to make it 66-63 with 25 seconds on the clock. Out of an ensuing timeout, Franklin tallied a driving layup with 13 seconds to play.
 
The Cru followed by making two more free throws and made it a 68-65 contest with 10.8 seconds left. A last-second 3-point try fell just short as UMHB held on for the narrow victory.
 
The Majors will be back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 2 against Birmingham-Southern on the road. Start time is set for 1 p.m. with live video and live stats will be available at gomajors.com.


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