WBB Battles Tough at DI UTEP
RattlerAthletics.com
By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletic Communications
EL PASO, Texas -- In the team's lone exhibition game of the season, the St. Mary's women's basketball team lost a hard-fought battle at Division I UTEP, 70-51, on Sunday afternoon.
Senior transfer Kaitlin Walla (Georgetown, Texas/Texas State) led all Rattlers with 16 points off the strength of four three-pointers, while senior guard Arysia Porter (San Antonio) was also in double figures with 10 points.
Sophomore Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, including six on the offensive end of the floor and junior Alexia Torres (San Antonio) led all players with five assists, while Porter was right behind her with four. Sophomore Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas), freshman Meredith Marcum (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Porter each had one blocked shot in the game and Marcum paced the team with two steals.
St. Mary's begins the regular season Friday, November 9 in Stephenville, Texas against Texas Woman's at the Tarleton State University Classic at Noon. They will then face the host TexAnns at 5 p.m. on the 10th.
The Miners jumped out to an early 22-8 lead after the first quarter. Walla had a three-pointer and Porter had a pair of layups and a free throw for the Rattlers only scoring in the stanza. The team shot .250 from the field for the quarter (3-for-12).
StMU outscored UTEP 19-13 in the second quarter to cut the lead to eight at halftime, 35-27. Walla added two more three-pointers, while Marcum had five points in the quarter. The Rattlers out-rebounded the Miners 15-7 in the quarter and shot better from the field, connecting on .353 from the floor in the second period.
Walla, Banks, Porter and Thomas all made jumpers in the third quarter, while Banks added a triple as well, but UTEP used an 8-0 scoring run midway through the stanza to increase its lead back to 13, 54-41 at the end of the quarter.
Walla added another five points in the final quarter, but the Rattlers only managed one field goal in the final seven minutes of the game and UTEP hit three triples in the final quarter to go on to win the game by the final score of 70-51. StMU did manage to have six of its eight rebounds on the offensive end of the floor in the fourth quarter and they scored five points off turnovers.
