Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — The usually energetic victory walk to center court to huddle as a team took a different tone for the Lady Rattlers Thursday night, as they trekked visibly exhausted to celebrate a triumphant win over rival St. Edward's.
The Rattlers upstaged the Hilltoppers in the Battle of Saints at Bill Greehey Arena Thursday, claiming the must-win battle 75-58.
With the win, St. Mary's Women's Basketball has claimed the top position in the league, improving to 12-2 on the season and 6-1 in Heartland Conference play.
Although claiming a 17-point blowout to remain undefeated at home looked easy on the stat sheet, the Rattlers had to fight off the Hilltoppers the entire 40 minutes in a fast-paced and aggressive game that proved these two teams had a history.
For head coach
Jason Martens, the victory marked his 17
th straight win over the Hilltoppers, improving to 17-0 for his career.
The rivalry game saw a spectacular performance from
Morgan Pullins (Jr., Franklin, Mich.) who recorded her sixth double-double on the season, tying a career-high 23 points and pulling in 11 rebounds.
After playing just five minutes in the Rattlers' previous game due to foul trouble, this was the outing Pullins was looking for to redeem herself.
"It was refreshing, I was ready to play," said Pullins of her charging performance against SEU after unwanted bench time in her previous game. "I'm really battling with just trying not foul because it keeps me out of the game. I was really happy to play tonight."
Pullins' 30 minutes on the floor Thursday night proved vital in the Rattlers' victory as she led several runs, scoring a quick eight points just minutes into the game and coming away with two blocks and two steals.
Jackie Woods (Sr., San Antonio) was also impressive, totaling 18 points with half coming from three's while
Lia Kioa (Sr., Phoenix) chipped in nine points and recorded four assists.
At the half, the battle was tight as the Rattlers went into the locker with a slim four-point lead, 33-29.
The game remained tight for the first 11 minutes of the final frame with the Hilltoppers tying it up 50-50 at the 9:40 mark.
It would be the closest the Hilltoppers would come to ever gaining a lead on the Rattlers.
The Rattlers spurred to only allow SEU to score eight more points for the remainder of the game as St. Mary's charged on a 25-8 run to claim a blowout victory in the first round of the Battle of the Saints.
"At halftime we were like, this is unacceptable," said Pullins who recorded nine defensive rebounds in the second half alone. "We had them a little bit (at the half) but it wasn't acceptable for us so we just stepped it up and got together and we were ready to beat them because they're our rival and wanted to get that win."
The victory was sweet for the Rattlers as they gave their rival their first conference loss on the season as the Hilltoppers dropped to 10-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
The Rattlers will defend their top spot in the league and their perfect home record once more at 1 p.m. Saturday as they take on provisional conference member McMurry at 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.
