The Lady Jackets (9-6, 5-3) wrap up the regular season at Mary Hardin-Baylor (11-7, 7-6) – a 69-63 winner over Sul Ross (8-13, 6-5) Thursday night – at 1 p.m. Saturday. All three of the aforementioned teams are still in the hunt for the No. 2 seed and the right to host a first-round game in the revamped ASC Championship Tournament. HPU would clinch the No. 2 seed with a win, Sul Ross would be No. 2 with a win and an HPU loss, and UMHB would be No. 2 with a win and a Sul Ross loss at Concordia (2-7, 2-7).
Trailing 33-32 at halftime Thursday night, the Lady Jackets outscored Concordia, 21-10, in the third period to carry a 53-43 advantage into the final quarter.
Down 39-38 with 7:46 left in the third, Howard Payne scored the next 11 points to seize control, 49-39, with 3:31 to go in the quarter. While holding Concordia scoreless for 4:15, the Lady Jackets received six points from Chelsey Harris, two each from Salina Ali and Kendra Brown and a free throw by Mallory Garcia.
HPU’s lead peaked at a dozen points twice in the fourth quarter – 62-50 at 5:35 on a bucket by Amanda Turpin, and 65-53 at 4:41 on a trey by Lily Janek. Concordia got no closer than eight points in the fourth period.
The Lady Jackets shot 40 percent (24 of 60) from the floor, 28 percent (5 of 18) on three-pointers, and 86 percent (12 of 14) on free throws. HPU also forced 28 turnovers which led to 33 points, and owned a 38-37 edge in rebounds.
Turpin again paced HPU with 17 points followed by Bria Neal with 14, Harris with 10, Ali and Kayla Brigance with six each, Brown with four, Janek and Garcia with three apiece and Trinity Johnson with two points.
Concordia converted 33 percent (18 of 55) of its field goals, 27 percent (8 of 30) of its treys, and 79 percent (11 of 14) of it free throws.
Falyn Taylor finished with 16 points and Madi Maxwell chipped in 14.