Abram Choate, SID

BELTON, Texas – The Lady Jackets continued their perfect season tonight by handing the Lady Crusaders of Mary Hardin-Baylor their first loss at home this season, 69-45.

Howard Payne jumped to their usual start with a 20-3 run. The Lady Jackets remained in control the entire game, having their biggest lead at 29 points. They were able to confidently enter the locker room 38-20 at halftime.

The Lady Jackets continued their secure lead into the second half jumping off with a nice 13-2 run. They coasted the remainder of the game, obtaining the 24 point win (69-45).

Contributing largely to the win was Senior Stacey Blalock with 18 points, who was followed closely with an outstanding performance by Kim Hoffman, 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Despite a wrist injury in the middle of the game, senior Meia Daniels continued to play and contributed 10 points to the team's win. Daniels had 4 steals in the game to break the Howard Payne season record for steals in a season with 80. Also adding numbers were Senior Daphnie Pippins and Freshman Katie Sarem each with 6 respectively.

Leading the Lady Crusaders was Kellie Thomas who came off the bench contributing 18 points and 5 rebounds on the game, along with Jenny Black who had 7.

The Lady Jackets had outstanding stats in free throws with 81%, in comparison to the 57% of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Howard Payne now moves to a perfect 16-0 on the season, 12-0 in the American Southwest Conference play. The Lady Crusaders fall to 8-7, 6-5 in the conference.

Continuing their journey through the heart of their season, the Lady Jackets will meet up with the Lady Tornados of Concordia in Austin Saturday afternoon beginning at 1PM. They will be followed by the men's game at 3PM.