Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's women's basketball coach
Jason Martens said a bad practice carried over to the game Saturday, as his Rattlers eked out a 65-62 victory over visiting St. Thomas.
The Rattlers trailed by 13 early, including 11 at the break, and struggled with long-range shooting and point-blank shots.
Still, despite not bringing their "A" game, the Rattlers (6-1) found a way. And that was impressive to watch on a day things weren't going their way at Bill Greehey Arena.
St. Mary's used its defense to create offense, as the Rattlers generated 21 points off turnovers on 16 steals, helping them dominate the paint area 38-18.
St. Mary's also dominated the boards, outrebounding St. Thomas 50-40 — thanks in large part to the 17 rebounds hauled in by junior forward
Morgan Pullins.
Jackie Woods shouldered the load offensively, scoring a game-high 23 points including a clutch 5-for-5 effort from the foul stripe that helped the Rattlers close out the game down the stretch.
Bria Bell added 13 points while Pullins scored 10.
St. Mary's opened up the second half strongly nearly erasing a 34-23 halftime deficit to make the score 36-34 on a
Kyra Littlejohn layup at the 17:26 mark.
Jackie Woods' layup with 12:24 remaining gave the Rattlers their first lead, 42-40, since early in the first half and, after trading leads, Woods drained a 3-pointer to put St. Mary's up six with 5:13 left.
St. Mary's remains unbeaten at home, improving to 5-0 at Bill Greehey Arena. St. Mary's will be back in action Thursday, when it travels to play Oklahoma Panhandle State at 5:30 p.m. in Goodwell, Okla.
