Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — Heavy zone defense from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith made efforts to contain the Lady Rattlers inside, perhaps overlooking the top seed's stance as the best shooting team in the league.
In their second look at the Lions this season, the Rattlers recorded their second double-digit victory over UAFS to win 64-54, improving to 16-5 on the season and 8-1 in conference play.
“We didn't want to take early shots, we wanted to take good shots,” said leading scorer
Jackie Woods (Jr., San Antonio). “We were just patient and making them guard us on top so we could get the open 3's.”
Leading the Heartland Conference in both field-goal and- three-point percentage sparked by their four-guard offense, the Rattlers recorded eight 3-pointers Thursday night inside Bill Greehey Arena, with Woods hitting half. The Lions (6-14, 2-5 in conference) are not new to seeing the Rattlers flare from behind the arc as St. Mary's also hit eight 3's in the their first meeting.
Woods, who's averaging a team-high 15.7 points per game, led the No. 1 team in conference Thursday with 16 points alongside
Lia Kioa (Jr., Phoenix), who also chipped in 16 points in the 10-point victory.
Morgan Pullins (So., Franklin, Mich.) shot 50 percent from the floor (4 of 8) for 10 points and
Felicia Jacobs (Sr., San Antonio) was heavy on the boards, bringing in a team-high eight rebounds.
The Lions were only able to tie the score once as the Rattlers led throughout, gaining their largest lead of 16 in the second half with nine minutes left in the game. St. Mary's went into the locker room with an 11-point lead and treaded the floor to improve from 33-percent shooting in the first to 50 percent in the final frame (13-26).
The Rattlers have five games remaining in the regular season, three being conference games that will determine St. Mary's final place in the standings. With the best overall record in the league and currently tied for first in league play with the University of Texas-Permian Basin, the Rattlers have turned a new corner since last season, when they went into the conference tournament as the fourth seed. This season, the Rattlers may very well have the home-court advantage.
“It feels good to be first place now,” said Woods, referring to the improvement of the Rattlers in league play from last season. “Coming from last year, halfway through the season we had more wins than we had last year. So it feels good to finally be at the top.”
The Rattlers play their second to last home game of the season against last season's champions, the Newman Jets, on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena.
“We're excited to play Newman because last time we went into overtime with them,” said Woods, who recorded a team-high three blocks Thursday.
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.
