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Scoreboard

Culiver_Mya_20181123WB_vs_CMU_57
Antonio Morano Photography
70
Winner St. Mary's STMU 7-1
64
Angelo St. ASU 6-0
Winner
St. Mary's STMU
7-1
70
Final
64
Angelo St. ASU
6-0
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
St. Mary's STMU 20 14 17 19 70
Angelo St. ASU 12 11 19 22 64

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

Women's Hoops best second nationally-ranked squad of year

By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletic Communications

ANGELO, Texas – Sinking four of its final six free throws in the final minute to fend off a furious comeback by 21st-ranked Angelo State in the fourth quarter, the St. Mary's women's basketball team held on to win 70-64 on Saturday afternoon. It is the second win over a nationally-ranked team for the Rattlers this season, as they beat then-#1 Central Missouri on Nov. 23.

"Today was a great team win," Head Coach Jason Martens said. "This team has a find-a-way-to-win mentality and they are willing to do whatever it takes to win and they did that again today."

Senior guard Kaitlin Walla (Georgetown, Texas) nailed both of her free throws with just one second remaining to ice the game and lift the Rattlers to 8-1 on the season. It is the second time this year Walla has made free throws in the waning seconds, as she also did so at the end of the first overtime against Central Missouri to send it to the second overtime.

"Kait was huge again today," Martens said. "She just has the ability to make shots and she did that again today."

The Rattlers got the vast majority of its scoring from just four players as Walla scored 23 off the strength of five three-pointers. Sophomore guard Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas) added 20, sophomore guard Mya Culiver (Rockwall, Texas) poured in a career-high 15 points and sophomore forward Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) added eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end of the floor.

"Mya stepped up big today," Martens continued. "She's moved into the starting lineup because of injuries and made the most of it. She hit a number of big shots today."

Senior Crystal Thomas (San Antonio) grabbed a career-best nine boards and sophomore Audrey Wandji (Houston, Texas) was right behind her with eight rebounds as the Rattlers won the battle of the boards, 39-to-33. Banks also led the team with four assists, and she, Culiver and Thomas each had one steal.

"Crystal was also big for us today," Martens stated. "When she found out she was starting, she asked what her role was and I told her to play hard and go get rebounds and she did both of those things today."
De'anira Moore led the Rams (5-1) with a double-double, scoring 17 and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds. Dezirae Hampton scored 16, while Marquita Daniels added 13 and Asia Davis chipped in 10. Daniels also led the team with three assists and three different Rams had two steals. Neither team blocked a shot in the game.

St. Mary's started the game off  by feeding the hot hand, finding Walla open and she didn't waste any time, giving the Rattlers the 3-2 lead. Culiver extended the lead after an Angelo St. turnover with a jumper in the paint, and Thomas followed with a layup to make the score 7-3 with 8:10 to play. The Rams scored the next five to take an 8-7 lead, but Culiver drained a three-pointer to get the lead right back and Walla followed with a triple of her own to push the lead to five, 13-8 with 5:26 on the clock. The Rams cut it to one, but the Rattlers closed the first quarter on a 7-0 scoring run, including five by Walla for the 20-12 score.

Culiver made back-to-back layups for the Rattlers with a free throw by the Rams sandwiched between them to stretch the StMU lead out to 11, 24-13. A small 5-0 run by the Rams brought them within six, but the Rattlers answered with an 8-0 run of their own to take a 14-point advantage behind a traditional three-point play by Banks, a three-pointer from Walla and free throws by Wandji. Angelo State scored five of the final seven points of the quarter to make the halftime score 34-23. Walla led all players with 14 points at the half, while Moore led the way with seven points and eight rebounds for Angelo State.

The teams traded layups to open the third quarter and then Banks followed her layup with a triple. The teams again traded shots to keep the StMU advantage at 14, 41-27. Both teams used mini five-point runs for the 46-32 score with 6:27 to play. After a 7-2 run by the Rams, Bank sank another three-pointer to end the rally and lift the lead back to double digits, 51-39. Angelo State scored the final three of the quarter to make the score 51-42.

The teams traded triples to open the final stanza as the scores were juxtaposed on the scoreboard, 54-45 with 9:09 remaining. Moore scored on a layup for the Rams and then Walla used an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Rattlers a double-digit lead again, 57-47. The Rams scored five straight, but Walla hit another three-pointer at the 6:41 mark for the eight-point cushion. Angelo State scored six of the next seven to close within three, 61-58, but back-to-back layups by Wilson and Banks lifted the lead back to seven, 65-58 with 2:58 left. Asia Davis made two free throws for the Rams, then each team made one from the charity stripe for the 66-61 score at 2:01. With 1:41, Daniels made a layup to cut the Rattlers lead to three, and a free throw by Sidney Smith with 1:25 remaining made it a two-point game, 66-64, but Wilson, Culiver and Walla hit the free throws over the final 45 seconds for the victory.

The Rattlers remain on the road, playing at Midwestern State next Saturday at 2 p.m. before returning home to host Cameron on Tuesday, December 18 at 5:30 p.m.
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