SAN ANTONIO – This Thursday, the St. Mary's Women's Basketball Team will return to the friendly confines of Bill Greehey Arena as they take on the Newman Jets (10-9, 7-6) in a Heartland Conference matchup.
HOMESICK RATTLERS
St. Mary's (13-4, 8-3) comes into the game dropping their last two games on the road against Texas A&M International and Oklahoma Christian.
Against TAMIU, the Rattlers were led by double-double machine
Morgan Pullins (Jr., Franklin, Mich.) who notched 22 points and grabbed 11 boards. In addition to Pullins,
Jackie Woods (Sr., San Antonio) added 20 points and two assists in the losing effort.
The loss against the Aggies may end up hurting the Rattlers in the long run as currently TAMIU holds the No. 1 spot in the league with StMU just one game behind in the race to the regular-season title and the right to host the Heartland Conference Tournament.
One week later at Oklahoma Christian, the Rattlers recieved a solid all-around performance from
Dezirae Elias (So., Chandler, Ariz.) who had an impressive stat line of 12 points, five steals, four rebounds, and three assists.
But the Eagles were just too much, shooting a blazing 50 percent from 3-point land in the second half. In the two losses, the Rattlers were a dismal 35.7 percent from the field, a significant contrast to the team's season average of 41.6 percent.
At home, the Rattlers have shot well over 40 percent from the field, which is reflected in their undefeated 9-0 home record. They hope this trend continues with two all-important Heartland Conference games coming up at Bill Greehey Arena.
HITTING THEIR STRIDE
The Newman Jets started the season by dropping six of their first ten games. However, since the start of the new calendar year, the Jets have won five of their last seven entering Thursday's contest.
Their last game was a 63-57 victory over Texas Permian-Basin. The Jets were able to outlast a furious comeback attempt by UTPB late in the second half.
Newman was led by sophomore Alexandra Ciabattoni, and seniors Shekeira Copeland and Cheniqwa Banks, who combined for 56 of the Jets' 63 points.
WE MEET AGAIN
Earlier in the season, St. Mary's played visitor to Newman in an entertaining affair which saw the Rattlers come away victorious, 77-70.
St. Mary's led for most of the contest, leading by as much as 17. That was until a furious comeback gave Newman the one point advantage late in the second half.
It would be Jets' only lead in the game as the Rattlers outscored Newman 19-11 in the final five minutes of the contest.
The StMU victory was highlighted by four of the Rattler starters scoring in the double-digits. One of whom included sophomore Elias, who scored a career-high 16, in addition to five assists and four steals.
As for the Jets, they were led by their own sophomore guard, Ciabattoni, who had a team-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Only in her sophomore campaign, Newman's Ciabattoni continues to make waves. Named Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year last season, the Australian sensation leads her team in almost every statistical category.
As the Heartland Conference's leading scorer with 20.2 points per game, expect nothing less from Ciabattoni who is also strong on the boards, averaging seven rebounds per contest.
For St. Mary's, senior Woods usually doesn't have a subpar performance. In the Rattlers' last game against Oklahoma Christian, Woods failed to score in the double-digits for only the third time this season. Following those two previous performances, the All-American responded with superb outings.
The forecast calls for a bounce back performance from Woods as she and the Rattlers hope to remain undefeated at home.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Rattlers will complete their two-game home stand this Saturday against the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies at 1 p.m. inside Bill Greehey Arena.
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.
