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Scoreboard

Dezirae Elias
Antonio Morano Photography
Dezirae Elias scores two of her 15 points against Angelo State.
62
Angelo St. ASU 1-5
67
Winner St. Mary's STMUWB 5-2
Angelo St. ASU
1-5
62
Final
67
St. Mary's STMUWB
5-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Angelo St. ASU 22 40 62
St. Mary's STMUWB 29 38 67

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | RattlerAthletics.com

Elias sets StMU steals record in victory over Angelo State

By Chad Peters | St. Mary's Athletics Communications

SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's Dezirae Elias made a habit of swiping Angelo State's pocket Sunday, and her school-record 11th steal couldn't have come at a more opportune time.
 
Nursing a five-point lead in the waning seconds, Elias gambled and poked the ball loose from Angelo State, and found Morgan Pullins on the other end for a basket with 17 seconds left that helped seal the Rattlers' 67-62 wire-to-wire victory over the Rambelles at Bill Greehey Arena.
 
Pullins led all players with 23 points and had her second straight double-double with 12 boards, helping St. Mary's (5-2) — winners of three straight — finish 2-0 at the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic. Elias had a double-double of her own with 15 points to go along with her 11 steals.
 
Pullins was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, while Elias — who added seven assists and five rebounds in the game — joined her teammate on the All-Tournament Team.
 
"They've been great all year," head coach Jason Martens said of his standout duo. "That's what we expect. Someone like Morgan, she's a senior and a four-year starter. Dezi's been in the battles for the last two years. You expect that out of your veterans. They did a lot of good things tonight." 
 
St. Mary's led by as many as 14 points in the first half and carried a 29-22 lead into halftime, but ASU (1-5) kept chipping away, twice cutting the deficit to one early in the half and down to two, 61-59, on a Jackie Patterson free throw with 1:07 remaining.
 
But a Kyra Littlejohn layup with 33 seconds left followed a free throw from Elias to put the Rattlers back up 64-59, and Pullins' fastbreak basket with 17 ticks remaining stretched the lead to 67-60.
 
"Consistency's the key," Martens said. "We've got to get better and more consistent on both ends of the floor. I thought for the first 16 minutes we were unbelievable defensively, and then we had some letdowns down the stretch.
 
"But there is some grit, some fight, some never-give-up. I love to see that out of them."
 
Kyra Littlejohn scored 11 points, including a key and-one with 2:15 remaining to put the Rattlers back up 59-53 after the Rambelles had sliced the deficit to three. Kiara Etheridge added 10 points and 12 rebounds, making her the third Rattler to record a double-double in the game.
 
The Rattlers showed terrific ball movement throughout the first half, opening up a 23-9 lead with just under four minutes to play. But StMU shot just 13 of 40 in the half, keeping ASU in the game with the Rattlers up 67-62 at the break. St. Mary's finished 26 of 75 from the floor and 0 for 6 from 3-point range, but made up for the cold shooting by going 15 of 21 at the free-throw line and outrebounding the Rambelles 50-37.
 
Elias broke her own mark for the school's steals record, surpassing her previous high of nine, which she set just over a week ago in a loss to Texas Woman's on Nov. 21.
 
St. Mary's will return to action Thursday, when it hosts Texas A&M-Kingsville at 6 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena. 
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