WICHITA FALLS, Texas – For the second-straight game, the St. Mary's Women's Basketball team used a balanced scoring attack to win on the road. The Rattlers (6-7, 5-4 Lone Star Conference) defeated Midwestern State (5-7, 3-5 Lone Star) 72-51.
As she has done the majority of the season, junior
Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas) led the team in scoring with 18 points, while freshman
Briley Perkins (Houston, Texas) hit double figures for the second-straight game with 13 and junior forward
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) chipped in 10. She narrowly missed her fourth double-double in five games with nine boards. However, Wilson didn't have many chances to grab rebounds as teammate
Jessica Barbosa (Bissai, Guinea Bissai) broke the St. Mary's record with 21 of them.
Barbosa, a junior, breaks the previous record of 20 held by Kiara Etheridge (2013) and Morgan Pullins (twice in 2015). The 21 rebounds is the most in a game by a Lone Star Conference player this season.
Senior
Alexia Torres (San Antonio) led the game with seven assists, missing tying her career-high by one. She also did not record any turnovers in 21 minutes of action. Wilson led the club with a season-high three blocked shots. All the Rattlers who saw action in five or more minutes scored at least two points in the contest, while eight of the nine grabbed at least one rebound.
For the seventh time this year, the Rattlers made double digit three-pointers going 10-for-23 (43.5 percent). For the game the team shot 33.8 percent and they connected on 16-for-20 from the free throw line (80 percent).
HOW IT HAPPENED
There were five lead changes and three ties in the opening quarter as the teams went back-and-forth. Barbosa put the Rattlers on the scoreboard first with a putback before the Mustangs scored the next four for the 4-2 advantage. Perkins knotted things up on a layup with 6:40 to play and she hit a triple after the Mustangs scored on a layup to give the Rattlers the 7-6 lead. MSU answered with a three of its own for the third lead change, but Wilson tied things again at 9-9 on a layup. Banks gave the Rattlers the edge on a trey with 3:27 remaining, but four straight free throws for the Mustangs gave them the lead back with 1:00 to play at 13-12. Banks hit another triple with 42 ticks left and the third tie happened on a Mustangs layup, but freshman
Tonia Bilic (Zagreb, Croatia) gave the Rattlers the 16-15 lead with one free throw with two seconds left.
The second quarter was all Rattlers as they outscored the Mustangs 18-5. MSU scored the first three of the quarter on a traditional three-point play, but StMU tallied the next 10, including five straight by Banks and the defense forced seven turnovers during the stretch as the Rattlers extended their lead to 26-18 with 4:11 left. The Mustangs managed a jumper at the 3:19 mark, but it was their final points of the stanza and the Gold & Blue scored the final eight with Perkins and Wandji each sinking a pair of free throws and Barbosa and Banks each making a jumper for the 34-20 halftime score.
The teams exchanged free throws to begin the third quarter and the Rattlers scored on back-to-back layups to push the lead to 40-22. The Mustangs drained consecutive three-pointers sandwiched around a Culiver free throw for the 40-28 score. The teams traded layups before Barbosa made a layup and Perkins drilled a triple for the 48-30 tally with 5:44 remaining. After MSU scored four, Hardeman connected on a trey so the scoreboard read 51-34 with 4:12 on the clock. The Mustangs scored another four straight before Torres hit a triple at the 2:00 mark for the 54-38 tally. MSU sank back-to-back layups but Hughes nailed a triple for the final points of the quarter for the 57-42 score.
Wilson opened the final stanza with a layup before the Mustangs scored five straight to pull within 12, 59-47. The Rattlers scored the next five from the free throw line to push the lead to 64-47. After a MSU jumper, the Gold & Blue used an 8-0 run with three-pointers from Perkins and Hughes to lock up the game. The Mustangs ended the contest with a pair of free throws as the Rattler defense held them without a field goal over the final 3:46 of the contest to win 72-51.
TEAM & INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES
- Soteria Banks hit her double digit scoring in the first half with 13 points to lead all scorers. Banks has scored 10 or more in all but one game this year. Banks now has 953 points in her career, needing just 47 to hit the 1,000-point milestone.
- Briley Perkins scored in double figures for the second-straight game with 13 points. Over the road trip, Perkins tallied 33 points and was 7-for-11 from the three-point line.
- Seven times this season the Rattlers have made double digits in three-pointers, making 10-of-23 on Saturday.
- The Rattlers out-rebounded the Mustangs 47-to-33. It is the fifth-straight game St. Mary's has grabbed more boards than the opponent.
- Jessica Barbosa broke the St. Mary's single-game record for rebounds with 21, bettering the old mark of 20, held by both Kiara Etheridge (2013) and Morgan Pullins (2015, twice).
- Bella Hughes returned to the lineup after missing Thursday's game at Cameron. The freshman scored seven points in 13 minutes.
UP NEXT
The Rattlers come home to host Texas A&M International on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 5:30 p.m. and Texas A&M Kingsville on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m.
