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Scoreboard

Porter_Arysia_20181123WB_vs_CMU_03
Antonio Morano Photography
80
Winner Newman NU 13-10
71
St. Mary's (TX) STMU 15-7
Winner
Newman NU
13-10
80
Final
71
St. Mary's (TX) STMU
15-7
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Newman NU 16 15 25 24 80
St. Mary's (TX) STMU 13 14 22 22 71

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

Late free throws sink Women's Hoops

By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletics Communications

SAN ANTONIO – Despite four players scoring in double figures for the first time in Heartland Conference play this season for the St. Mary's women's basketball team, the Rattlers were unable to come away with the victory on Thursday evening, falling 80-71 to Newman.

The two teams entered the evening tied for second in the conference standings with identical 5-4 records, but the Jets now stand alone at 15-9 overall and 6-4 in league action, while the Rattlers are 15-7 on the year and tied for third with a 5-5 mark. They are knotted with Oklahoma Christian – the team they host on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Senior Day.

Senior guard Arysia Porter (San Antonio) led the Rattlers with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while sophomore guard Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas), senior guard Kaitlin Walla (Georgetown, Texas) and sophomore forward Audrey Wandji (Houston, Texas) each added 14 points. Sophomore forward Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) also tied for game-high honors with seven boards, with four coming on the offensive end of the floor. Sophomore guard Mya Culiver (Rockwall, Texas) came off the bench to tie for team-high honors with three assists and five different players each had one steal.

Newman's Kaitlyn Potter led the game with 18 points, hitting four of the Jets' 11 three-pointers on the night. Bria DeGrate added 15 points, while Faith Mason-Vestal scored 13 and led the team with seven rebounds and Dede Johnson added 11 points and a game-high four assists.

How It Happened
The Jets opened the game with a three-pointer just 11 seconds in, but Porter answered with one of her own 35 seconds later for the first of six ties in the contest. Porter continued to be the hot hand, scoring the next five points for the Rattlers for the early 8-3 advantage with 6:53 to play. The Jets scored the next seven for their first lead of the game, 10-8 at the 4:38 mark, but Walla stopped the streak with a free throw. Newman scored the next three and Wandji scored the final two buckets of the quarter for the Rattlers, sandwiched around a Newman triple for the 16-13 Jets lead.

Wandji continued to play tough, scoring the first four points of the second stanza to give the lead back to the Blue & Gold, 17-16 and Culiver drained a three-pointer with 8:18 on the clock to stretch the advantage to four, 20-16. After a Newman basket, Torres and Walla hit consecutive shots to give the Rattlers their biggest lead of the game, 24-18 with 6:53 remaining. Over the next five minutes, the Jets used an 8-0 run to take the lead back 26-24, but Banks nailed a triple to get the lead right back at 1:13, 27-26. Newman scored the final five points, including a banked three-pointer as time expired. Both Porter and Wandji had eight points in the first half to pace the Rattlers, while Wilson led the team with four rebounds.

Newman made a layup to start the second half, but the Rattlers scored the next 10 points to take a four-point lead, 37-33 with 6:48 ticks left in the third quarter. Four of the 10 points were scored at the free throw line during the stretch after the team attempted just two in the first half. After a three-pointer by the Jets cut the lead down to one, Porter made two more free throws for the 39-36 lead. The Jets tied the score on another triple for the third tie of the contest. The teams traded baskets and Newman regained the lead on a free throw. With 4:45 left, Porter went back to the charity stripe and made both to take the lead right back and Walla extended the lead to three with a jumper in the paint. The Jets drilled one more three for the 45-45 score and the final tie of the game. They scored the next five, but Walla was once again the streak stopper, hitting a jumper in the paint for the 50-47 tally with 2:00 remaining. The Jets scored six straight to stretch their lead to nine before Torres scored the final basket of the quarter for the 56-49 score.

The first four points of the final stanza went to the Rattlers and were scored via free throws and a jumper, two FT's by Wandji and a basket by Banks as they cut the deficit to three, 56-53. After a Jets jumper, Torres made a free throw and Culiver hit a jumper in the paint for a two-point game, 58-56, but that's as close as the Rattlers could get. The Jets scored 12 of the next 16 points to stretch their lead to 11, 70-59, with just under a minute remaining. The four points by the Rattlers were all scored by Porter. Walla hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds left to make it an eight-point game, 70-62, but the Jets went 8-for-8 from the free throw line to deny any Rattlers chance of a comeback.

Individual Player Notes
  • Senior guard Arysia Porter made a season-high seven free throws in the game, bringing her career total to 238, which places her ninth on the St. Mary's career free throws made chart. She passes both Roxanne Guerra (234, 1994-1997) and Betsy Powers (235, 1994-1996).
  • Thursday's game was the 100th game of Porter's career.
  • Porter has now recorded at least one three-pointer in each of the last five games.
  • With her four field goals in the game, Porter moved into eighth on the career list, passing Charlena Rodez (464, 2004-2007) and Shelly Blomer (465, 1997-2000).
  • Sophomore guard Soteria Banks matched her three-point total from last year. In 2017-18, in 29 games as a freshman Banks made 26, while this season she has made 26 three pointers in 22 games.
  • Banks has scored 10 or more points in the last three games and has scored nine or more in the last six contests.
  • Senior guard Kaitlin Walla made her 60th three-pointer of the season in the game and has made at least one triple in each of the last six games. Walla has made one or more three-pointers in all but one game this year.
  • Walla is just 17 three-pointers off the school record of 77 by Meosha Nash (2002-2003).
Team Notes
  • Tonight was the first time since December 18, 2018 against Cameron the Rattlers had four players score in double figures. It is the fourth time this season, four players have scored 10 or more.
  • After being doubled up in rebounds in the first half, 22-11, the Rattlers did a much better job of crashing the boards in the second half, out-rebounding the Jets 19-14 in the second half.
  • The Rattlers had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in the game 13-to-10. It is the second-straight game and the fifth time this year the team has had either an even or a positive A:T ratio.
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