Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — While watching film a few weeks back, St. Mary's women's basketball coach
Jason Martens was surprised by what he saw on tape.
The up-tempo, aggressive style that had made the Lady Rattlers so fun to watch — and so effective at winning — had slowly vanished.
“We stopped playing fast,” he said.
Bad news for opponents: that brand of basketball is back.
St. Mary's ran Oklahoma Christian out of the gym Saturday, winning 76-57 behind a fast-paced offensive attack and a lock-down defensive presence for their fourth victory in five games.
Morgan Pullins (So., Franklin, Mich.) led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds on Senior Day, as the Lady Rattlers treated seniors
Liz Boyd (San Antonio),
Amber Polvado (Weslaco, Texas) and
Felicia Jacobs (San Antonio) to a win in their final regular-season game at Bill Greehey Arena.
Avenging a loss to the Eagles in which Oklahoma Christian drained nine 3-pointers at their place, the Rattlers (19-6) put the clamps down on the 3-point line, holding Oklahoma Christian (14-11) to 2-of-25 shooting from beyond the arc.
“We did a much better job of defending the three,” Martens said. “A lot of that had to do with us being in their face when they shot.”
St. Mary's, which has locked in the No. 2 seed in the Heartland Conference Tournament, shot 42 percent from the floor while holding the Eagles to 28.6-percent shooting. They distributed the ball well, dishing out 15 assists on 29 baskets. And they converted at the free-throw line, hitting 15 of 19 attempts in what proved to be an effective and efficient afternoon.
Jacobs and
Mariah Lee (Jr., Houston) joined Pullins in scoring in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively, with Jacobs adding eight boards in the process. Boyd had seven points and six assists, while Polvado scored six after getting the start.
There were three lead changes early, but St. Mary's quickly put its stamp on the game, jumping to a 37-18 lead at the break. The Lady Rattlers led by as much as 29 in the second half.
St. Mary's will now wait and see what the win does to their status in the regional rankings. StMU was ranked seventh in last week's first official rankings of the season, one spot behind Tarleton State, which went 0-2 this week and fell to the Lady Rattlers already this season.
The top eight teams will advance to the South Central Regional, with the winner of the Heartland Conference Tournament securing an automatic bid.
St. Mary's will wrap up its regular season at Texas A&M International next Saturday, playing at 2 p.m. in Laredo, Texas.
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.
