ABILENE – Bidding for their first American Southwest Conference women’s basketball championship since 2011, the Howard Payne Lady Jackets hung with Hardin-Simmons for a quarter, but the Cowgirls eventually ran away with a 73-46 victory Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Jackets (13-14), who defeated Hardin-Simmons (22-5) by a 65-63 count on Feb. 7 in Brownwood to lock up the conference’s No. 2 seed, trailed the No. 1 seed and host Cowgirls just 17-13 after one quarter. By halftime, however, Hardin-Simmons had opened a 41-19 advantage that stood at 59-35 heading to the fourth period.

Howard Payne all-tournament team members Hope Hermesmeyer and Caitlyn Panuco scored 18 and 11 points, respectively, to pace the Lady Jackets. Also scoring for HPU – which shot just 24 percent (12 of 49) from the field – were Caitlyn Parsons with seven points, Kaley Nicholson with five, Azaylee Santos and Kate Buchanan with two apiece, and Amaris Ambriz with one point.

Hardin-Simmons drained 33 percent (26 of 78) of its field goals as tournament MVP Jacqueline Berry scored 13 points followed by Abbie Crow with 12, Dylan Koele with 11, and Tayley Bullen with 10 points.

The 13 wins for Howard Payne in its first campaign under head coach Rodney Gee equaled the total of the previous two seasons combined.