BELTON, Texas - The Southwestern women's basketball team suffered their first loss of the season, 68-59, to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday afternoon. With the loss SU falls to 6-1 on the year while UMHB improves to 6-1.

The Pirates briefly led in the opening minutes of the first half before the Crusaders became hot shooting nearly 50% from the floor in the first half and built up an 11 point lead heading into the break, 33-22.

The Crusaders continued to build on the lead and led by 18 points, 45-27, with 15:09 remaining in the game. At that point Southwestern jumped into action and cut the lead to nine, 51-42 with 6:38 to play on a layup by sophomore Katelyn Bartell and then down to six points, 52-46 after a Shae Seagraves jumper with 5:45 remaining.

That is as close as the Pirates could pull, however, until the waning moments of the game. SU outscored UHMB 37-35 in the second half, but the 11 point first half deficit was more than they could overcome.

Seagraves led Southwestern with 16 points and she also grabbed a game high seven rebounds as did senior Staley Mullins. Mullins and Anna Fareed added 11 points apiece and Chelsea Leeder also reached double figures with 10 points. UMHB's Thompson led all scorers and rebounders, posting a double-double with 17 points and 15 boards.

Southwestern was outrebounded 42-32 in the game and shot 36.8% from the floor to UMHB's 44.6%.

The Pirates return home on Sunday to face Schreiner University before heading into winter break. Game time is set for 1:00 pm.