SAN ANTONIO – Key free throws and strong defense led the St. Mary's Women's Basketball team to a come-from-behind victory over the visiting Texas A&M Kingsville Javelinas, 64-62 in overtime on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman
Bella Hughes (Argyle, Texas) made all three free throws with 1.5 seconds left in regulation to force the overtime period where the Rattlers (8-7, 7-4 Lone Star Conference) held the Javelinas (3-10, 2-9 Lone Star) without a field goal. They also clamped down in the fourth quarter, holding TAMUK to just 1-for-15 in the fourth quarter as the Rattlers mounted their comeback by outscoring the Javelinas 19-to-7.
Hughes scored a career- and game-high 23 points in the win, while junior forward
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) notched her fourth double-double of the year with 17 points and a game-high 14 boards. Senior
Alexia Torres (San Antonio) also had a game-high five assists as the Rattlers had 14 assists on 18 makes on the day. The Gold & Blue also had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for the third-straight game with 14 assists and just 11 turnovers. The 11 miscues are a season low.
St. Mary's shot 32.1 percent from the field for the contest, 30 percent from the three-point line (9-for-30) and 70.4 percent at the free throw line (19-of-27). Texas A&M Kingsville connected on 36.5 percent from the floor, 34.8 percent from the three-point line (8-for-23) and 76.2 at the charity stripe (16-for-21). The Rattlers also out-rebounded the Javelinas, 39-to-37 in the game. It's the seventh-straight game the Gold & Blue has grabbed more boards than the opponent.
The win for the Rattlers is their fifth-straight and third-straight at home after dropping their first five in Bill Greehey.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rattlers scored just two points in the first quarter, a long jumper by Hardeman to snap the 7-0 run by the Javelinas to start the game. Texas A&M Kingsville scored the final seven of the stanza for the 14-2 score.
The Rattlers outscored the Javelinas 23-18 in the second quarter to pull within seven at halftime, 32-25. Kingsville continued their run with a layup to kick things off before Banks nailed a triple to snap the nine point run. After TAMUK made a layup, the Rattlers scored six straight, including a four-point play by Hughes. The teams traded layups and after another Javelina layup, Hughes drilled another trey for the 23-16 score with 4:22 on the clock. Kingsville sank a pair of free throws and Wilson answered with a layup. After one free throw for TAMUK, freshman
Sydney Hardeman made a three to bring StMU within five, 26-21. Hughes made it a one-possession game with a pair at the charity stripe. The Javelinas made a pair of three-pointers sandwiched around two Hughes free throws for the 32-25 halftime score.
Wilson scored the first four of the third quarter to again make it a three-point game, 32-29 at the 9:14 mark. The Javelinas scored 10 of the next 11 before Hughes hit another triple for the 42-33 tally with 5:26 on the clock. Kingsville made a free throw and freshman
Briley Perkins (Houston, Texas) answered with a three for the 43-36 tally. The Javelinas scored four of the next six, with a layup by Torres to push the advantage back to nine, 47-38 with 2:36 on the clock and they drained a three for the last points of the quarter, 50-38.
Nineteen seconds into the fourth quarter, TAMUK made one free throw to lead by 13, 51-38, and then both teams went scoreless for over three minutes until the 6:33 point when Hughes made a free throw and then Wilson had an offensive board-putback off the miss to cut it to 10, 51-41. The Rattlers continued the scoring streak with the next 10 points with five coming from junior
Mya Culiver (Rockwall, Texas) for the 51-49 score. The Javelinas scored five of the next six to extend the lead back to six, 56-50 with just under a minute left. Torres scored the next four and the Javelinas answered with one free throw with 15 seconds left. Hughes was fouled with 1.5 seconds remaining and sank all three free throws for the first tie of the game and force overtime.
The Javelinas scored at the free throw line with 3:46 left to lead by one, but Wilson scored on a traditional three-point play to give the Rattlers their first lead of the game, 60-58 with 2:33 left. A pair of TAMUK free throws knotted the score. Hughes was fouled for the fourth time on a three-point attempt, draining both the triple and the free throw for the 64-60 advantage. With 41 seconds left, the Javelinas made a pair of free throws for the final points of the day as the Rattlers completed the comeback.
INDVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Freshman Bella Hughes scored a career-high 23 points, including 11-for-14 at the free throw line. Her 11 makes tie for the 10th most in a single game in school history. Her 14 attempts also tie for ninth on the single-game charts.
- Hannah Wilson recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 17 points and 14 rebounds. It is also the 12th double-double of her career.
- Wilson also had one blocked shot in the game, moving her into a tie for sixth on the StMU career charts with 61. She's knotted with Jennifer Currey, who played 1993-1997.
- Alexia Torres had five assists in the game, giving her five straight contests with five or more dishes. During the streak, Torres has 32 assists with just 11 turnovers.
- St. Mary's defense held Texas A&M Kingsville to just 1-for-16 from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime after the Javelinas shot 40 percent or better in the first three quarters.
- Hughes also tallied a career-best six rebounds in the victory.
- St. Mary's turned the ball over only 11 times in the 45 minutes – a season-low for the Rattlers. Two other times this year, they've turned it over 12 times.
UP NEXT
The Rattlers make a tough road trip next week, traveling to #2 Lubbock Christian on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. and Angelo State on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. St. Mary's then returns home to host Texas Woman's on Jan. 30 to close out the month.
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