Box Score
LAREDO, Texas — With the top two records in the Heartland Conference, this was a battle to be No. 1.
St. Mary's Women's Basketball fell short of owning the No. 1 spot in the league as Texas A&M International took the matchup Saturday on the Dustdevils' home court, 79-69.
Morgan Pullins (Jr., Franklin, Mich.) and
Jackie Woods (Sr., San Antonio) were nothing short of explosive as the pair scored a combined 42 points for the game.
Pullins brought in her third straight double-double in the contest with a team-high 22 points and 11 rebounds. Woods recorded an impressive four 3's for 20 points while
Dezirae Elias (So., Chandler, Ariz.) chipped in 12 points.
Kiara Etheridge (Fr., San Antonio) was also big on the boards, bringing in 10 rebounds along with seven points.
The Rattlers record just their third loss on the season with the upset against TAMIU, dropping to 13-3 on the season and 8-2 in conference play. St. Mary's now holds the No. 2 spot in league standings, one game below TAMIU (13-3, 9-1 in conference).
The Rattlers played a steady game in the first half, gaining an eight-point lead with seven minutes left to play but went into the half down one, 32-31.
The Dustdevils controlled the second half with the Rattlers only regaining the lead once by a two-point margin with five minutes left in the game.
Knocking them down at the line contributed to TAMIU's victory as it went an impressive 20-22 at the stripe in the second half while the Rattlers went 11-20. For the game, the Dustdevils went 27-30 in free throws to record a percentage of 90.
St. Mary's will need to quickly find a way to overcome its road troubles as all three of its losses have been suffered away from home.
The Rattlers begin the second half of conference play against Oklahoma Christian at 1 p.m. Saturday in Oklahoma City.
