Box Score
LAREDO, Texas —
Felicia Jacobs put herself in St. Mary's record book Saturday. And then she went to the free-throw line and won the game.
Jacobs' steal with six seconds left marked her 75th of the season — a school record — and set up a pair of go-ahead free throws with four ticks remaining in a 69-67 road win.
She broke the 30-year-old record belonging to Shirley Griffen, who had 74 steals in the 1982-83 season.
Jacobs (Sr., San Antonio) had 12 points and five steals, giving St. Mary's (20-6, 10-2 Heartland Conference) a win that could go a long way in ultimately clinching a spot in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional regardless of what happens at next week's Heartland Conference Tournament.
Still, winning the conference crown would be awfully nice.
St. Mary's will enter the tournament as the second seed, trailing only Texas-Permian Basin, which will host the tournament in Odessa, Texas next Friday-Saturday with the winner earning an automatic bid to regional.
Jackie Woods (Jr., San Antonio) led the Lady Rattlers with 19 points Saturday, going 8 for 18 from the floor with a pair of makes from 3-point range.
Morgan Pullins (So., Franklin, Mich.) added 16 and
Mariah Lee (Jr., Houston) chipped in 13 as four Lady Rattlers scored in double figures. Lee also had a team-high nine rebounds.
St. Mary's trailed 31-30 at the half against TAMIU (10-16, 5-7) but rebounded in the second half by shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor (15 of 31). TAMIU hung around, in part, due to seven 3-pointers on the day.
With Jacobs' record-setting outing leading the way, St. Mary's scored 22 points off 20 turnovers.
Up next for St. Mary's is the Heartland Conference Tournament, where the Lady Rattlers will meet third-seeded Newman (11-5, 6-6) in the semifinals Friday.
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.
