Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's Women's Basketball was able to dodge overtime against UA Fort Smith as the Lions' last second layup at the buzzer rimmed out.
It wasn't pretty, but the Rattlers were able to remain undefeated both at home and in Heartland Conference play with the victory over the Lions Thursday night, 67-65.
Jackie Woods (Sr., San Antonio) was the star of the night, scoring a game-high 25 points along with recording three steals and two assists.
Morgan Pullins (Jr., Franklin, Mich.) added nine points and
Kiara Etheridge (Fr., San Antonio) and
Dezirae Elias (So., Chandler, Ariz.) chipped in seven points apiece.
Elias also led in assists with five while Etheridge led in rebounds with 11.
The Lions (2-9, 2-1 in conference) were looking for the upset over the Rattlers Thursday as St. Mary's currently holds the No. 1 spot in conference standings. The Rattlers had to fight hard to defend their home court as the game went down to a final spirit down the floor from the Lions who were able to get an open layup just before the buzzer that luckily for the Rattlers, rolled out of the rim.
The Rattlers experienced an aggressive attack from the Lions throughout the game, which consisted of a consistent press and impressively accurate shooting from beyond the arc.
A strong defensive press caused a rushed offense from the Rattlers as well as helped cause 28 turnovers while the Lions also went on tear from the three-point range. UAFS scored nearly half their points off 3's, hitting 10 of their 24 attempts with Lion Sydney Franklin draining six.
In the first frame, the Lions were able to pounce on the Rattlers quick for an early lead that St. Mary's was able to capture by the 13-minute mark. At the half, the Rattlers were up by just two, 32-30, in a game that saw the Lions creep back on the Rattlers.
In an explosive start to the second half, Woods charged for nine straight points under the first two minutes of the final frame, sinking two 3's and banking an and one. The Rattlers pushed their lead to 15 with just under 10 minutes left to play, but the Lions clawed back to go on a 19-6 run in the final minutes and cut their deficit to just one point with just under three minutes left to play, 64-63.
Woods pulled up for a jumper with 2:35 left on the clock to extend the Rattlers' lead to three but the Lions responded with a layup with the clock at 1:42 to bring it back within one.
With 25 seconds remaining, the Rattlers were able to drain the clock until the Lions forced a foul to send the Rattlers to the line with seven seconds remaining.
Kyra Littlejohn (Jr., Southfield, Mich.) then made it a two-point game after knocking down her first free throw.
The Lions were able to snatch the defensive board off the second free throw that then was outlet to Maddy Backus who just missed causing overtime.
With the grueling win, the Rattlers improved to 9-1 on the season and 4-0 in conference play with the victory over the Lions marking their seventh straight win.
The Rattlers return to action against provisional conference member Rogers State at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bill Greehey Arena.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
