Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — This one stung.
Jackie Woods' would-be winning 3-pointer drew back iron at the buzzer Saturday, as the St. Mary's women's basketball team suffered a 55-53 defeat to Newman that knocked it out of first place in the Heartland Conference.
Woods (Jr., San Antonio) led the Lady Rattlers with 12 points while Newman's Alexandra Ciabattoni led all scorers with 21 at Bill Greehey Arena.
“Our defense made some crucial mistakes tonight and gave up a lot of easy baskets,” St. Mary's coach
Jason Martens said. “We just didn't execute. That's the frustrating part.”
Ciabattoni scored the go-ahead basket in the paint coming out of a timeout with seven seconds left, answering a bucket by St. Mary's
Morgan Pullins (So., Franklin, Mich.) that tied the game up at 53-53 with 28 seconds left.
The loss knocked the Rattlers (16-6, 7-2) out of a first-place tie with Texas-Permian Basin, giving the Falcons a one-game lead with two remaining in Heartland play.
St. Mary's led 28-27 at the half of a game where it won the turnover battle 15-12 but struggled to stop the Jets' offense. Newman (8-13, 3-5) shot 45 percent from the floor compared to the Rattlers' 34.5 percent.
The loss marked just the second this season for St. Mary's at home, as the Rattlers fell to 10-2 inside Bill Greehey Arena. Newman also gave them fits on the road earlier this season, as St. Mary's needed overtime to defeat the Jets in their first meeting.
Felicia Jacobs (Sr., San Antonio) scored 10 and added eight rebounds in the loss, while Pullins scored nine and pulled down seven boards.
St. Mary's will be back in action Thursday for a pivotal “Battle of the Saints” matchup at St. Edward's. Tipoff in Austin, Texas is set for 5:30 p.m.
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.
