By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletics Communications
LUBBOCK, Texas – Sometimes when one player is hot it can carry over to the whole team and that seemed to be the case for the St. Mary's women's basketball team on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Arbor Hotels Classic against Texas-Permian Basin at Lubbock Christian.
The Rattlers defeated the Falcons 74-59 to improve to 3-1 on the season, while UTPB moves to 1-2 with the loss.
Senior guard Kaitlin Walla (Georgetown, Texas) tied the school record with six three-pointers in the game, tying April Jordan (1999), Nicole Brantley (2002, 2003) and Dezirae Elias (2015). Walla led the game with 22 points and made all five of her three-point attempts in the first half, ending the game 6-for-10.
Senior guard Arysia Porter (San Antonio) scored 19 points, had a season-high six steals, five rebounds and four assists in the win. Sophomore guard Mya Culver (Rockwall, Texas) scored a career-high 12 points behind the strength of a perfect 3-for-3 night at the three-point line. She also grabbed a career-best three rebounds. Fellow sophomore Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) chipped in 11 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
The Rattlers shot at season-best .500 from the floor and they hit .423 from the three-point line (11-for-26) from beyond the arc. It is the second-straight game StMU has made double-figures in three-pointers. They also shot .833 from the free throw line, though they only attempted six in the entire contest. The Rattlers also out-rebounded the Falcons, but only by the narrowest of margins, 33-to-32.
The defense held the Falcons to .387 shooting for the game, the third time in four games they've held an opponent under 40 percent from the field. The Falcons also shot just .294 from the arc (5-for-17) and .667 from the charity stripe (6-for-9).
The first quarter was a flurry of activity for both teams as they combined for 42 points, 22 for St. Mary's and 20 for Texas Permian Basin. The teams mainly traded baskets throughout the entire quarter, however the Rattlers used a mini 7-0 run to build a 20-13 lead when Culver hit a three, Walla sank a jumper and Culver followed with a layup. The Falcons made three of the final four buckets in the quarter to cut the lead to two, 22-20.
The Rattlers scored the final 14 points of the second quarter to build a 12-point lead at half-time, 38-26. During the stretch, Walla knocked down a pair of three-pointers, Porter hit a triple and a pair of free throws, Culver hit two free throws but one was erased on a lane violation by one of her teammates and both Banks and Wilson bookended the rally with layups.
Porter scored the first two baskets of the third quarter, the first a fast-break layup off a steal and the second a jumper from a great pass from Wilson as she was falling out of bounds. Wilson scored the next five points for the Rattlers, making one of two free throws and then sinking back-to-back layups to extend the lead to 47-33 with 3:14 to play. After consecutive baskets by the Falcons, Porter hit a triple to put her in double digits for the night and Culver followed with one of her own. After a UTPB free throw, Banks capped the third quarter scoring with a driving layup for the 55-41 score.
The Falcons scored the first five points of the final stanza, but Culver sank her third triple of the late afternoon to give the Rattlers a 12-point advantage, 58-46 with 8:05 on the clock. UTPB cut the lead to 10, but Porter nailed another fast-break layup and was fouled, sinking the free throw, stretching the lead to 13. The Falcons went on a mini 7-0 run to close within six, but that was as close as they could get as Wilson hit a layup and Walla made a jumper to push the lead back to 10.
At 3:01, Walla made her sixth three-pointer of the game, tying the school record and starting a 7-0 run for the Rattlers that iced the game. The Falcons would not score from the field again and only make one more free throw in the final three minutes.
The Rattlers finish out the Arbor Hotels Classic on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. against Southern Nazarene. The two teams have met only once previously on the hardwood, back in 1994. The women finally play at home on Friday, Nov. 23 at 5:30 p.m. when they host Central Missouri in the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic.
