Box Score
ODESSA, Texas — No one said it'd be easy.
Defining thriller and action-packed, the St. Mary's Lady Rattlers pounded out a one-point victory over Newman University, 54-53, Friday night in the Heartland Conference Tournament semifinals, earning the right to fight in Saturday's championship game.
St. Mary's (21-6) will face host University of Texas-Permian Basin (20-6) in the championship game Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Falcons' home court.
All-Conference selectees
Jackie Woods (Jr., San Antonio) and
Morgan Pullins (So., Franklin, Mich.) led in scoring Friday night with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Kyra Littlejohn (So., Southfield, Mich.) drove hard for eight points while
Bria Bell (Jr., Mesquite, Texas) fought under the bucket for a team-high eight rebounds.
Just as in the regular season, the Rattlers' game against the Jets Friday was as tight as it could get. The Rattlers split with the Jets during the regular season, winning in overtime and falling at the buzzer in their last two meetings, with Friday going down to the wire once more.
Trailing by four at the half, 31-27, the Rattlers regained momentum and their fight for the title in the second, jumping to an eight-point lead early on. Timely steals from Pullins and clutch shooting from all over the court quickly turned Friday's semifinal into a fiery and intense matchup, especially as the clock ticked down, with both teams fighting to extend their season further.
But it was the Rattlers who claimed their the ticket to the championship, leaving the past of Newman, which eliminated St. Mary's in last season's tournament, into a much-deserved shot at the conference championship.
“We knew that this was an important game and we battled back,” said Heartland Defensive Player of the Year
Felicia Jacobs (Sr., San Antonio), who had a team-high four steals. “And we found a way to get a victory tonight.”
As hyped and energetic as the semifinal between the Rattlers and Jets got Friday, Saturday's championship game predicts to be even more contested.
The Falcons will hold the coveted home court and crowd advantage over the Rattlers, who will be yearning for head coach
Jason Martens' fourth conference championship as head coach.
“We're expecting another good game, hopefully we're going to come out on top,” said Jacobs, who broke the St. Mary's single-season record for steals this season, topping the record of 74 that had held for 30 years. “We know it's going to be close. We know they're going to bring their 'A' game and we're going to bring ours. We split with them 1-1 (in the regular season) and someone's going to be 2-1.
“We're hoping it's going to be us.”
It'll all be on the line Saturday as the winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid into the regional tournament.
For St. Mary's Women's Basketball, Saturday hopes to bring a return to the regional tournament for the fourth time under Martens.
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.
