Furious Rally Falls Just Short For Women's Hoops Against UAFS

SAN ANTONIO – Despite a career-high 18 points from junior forward Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) and her second-straight double-double, the St. Mary's Women's Basketball team couldn't quite take the lead late against the visiting Arkansas-Fort Smith Lions and fell 57-52 in the first game of the 2020 calendar year.

The Rattlers (3-7, 2-4 Lone Star Conference) mounted a furious comeback after trailing by 14 at halftime, and cut the deficit to two with 27.8 seconds remaining, but the Lions (5-7, 2-4 Lone Star) made their last four free throws to ice the contest.

Along with Wilson's 18 points and season-high 14 rebounds, junior Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas) added 13 points and senior Alexia Torres (San Antonio) tallied four of the team's eight assists on the night. Wilson also blocked two shots late in the game and both Banks and freshman Briley Perkins (Houston, Texas) stole two balls each.

St. Mary's rebounded in the second half after a dismal shooting first half. The Rattlers managed to shoot just 14.8 percent in the first half, but hit 44.4 percent in the second half during the comeback. The club was also 0-for-14 from the three-point line, snapping a 46-game streak with at least one three-pointer. The team also made a season-high 20 free throws, going 20-for-30 at the charity stripe, led by seven from Banks.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions scored the first 12 points of the game before Wilson tallied the next five for the Rattlers to snap the run. The teams exchanged baskets before the Lions hit their third triple to end the first quarter with the 17-7 score.

Banks started the second quarter with a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to eight, 17-9, before UAFS answered with a pair of its own. After Wilson made one free throw, the Lions drained another three for the 22-10 tally. Wilson scored on a traditional three-point play before UAFS hit back-to-back triples to extend its lead to 15, 28-13. Audrey Wandji sunk a pair of free throws and the Lions made one from the charity stripe to end the half with the score 29-15. Wilson had a double-double in the first half with 11 points and 10 rebounds, leading the team in both categories.

The teams traded baskets to start the third quarter and then eight of the next 10 combined points were scored at the free throw line for the 35-23 score with 4:43 left. A UAFS basket snapped the free throw streak, but the next four also came at the charity stripe with one by the Rattlers and three for the Lions to make the score 40-24. The Rattlers ended the quarter scoring the final seven with four by junior forward Jessica Barbosa (Bissai, Guinea Bissai) to cut the score to 40-31.

StMU kept things going with the first two points of the final stanza on a Wilson bucket. The teams traded baskets to 48-37 when the Rattlers used another run, this time eight straight points to make it a four-point game, 48-44 with 3:08 to play. After exchanging buckets, UAFS sank one free throw for a five-point lead when Banks made 3-of-4 free throws to cut it to two, 51-49. The Rattlers could get no closer and UAFS ended on a 6-3 run for the 57-52 final.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES

• Hannah Wilson recorded her second-straight double-double of the year and the 10^th of her career with a career-high 18 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. She had double digits in both categories in the first half with 11 points and 10 boards.
• The last time St. Mary's did not hit a three-pointer in a game was Jan. 20, 2018 at UAFS, where the team was 0-for-8. It snaps a 46-game streak with at least one triple.
• The 20 free throws are the most for the Rattlers since last year in the Heartland Conference Tournament First Round, where they made 23 against this same UAFS team, a 66-51 win for the Rattlers.
• Soteria Banks scored 10 of her 13 points in the final 3:32 of the game, going 3-for-3 from the field and 4-for-6 at the free throw line. Banks scored the 900^th point of her career in the game and now has 910 for her career.
• With her double-double, Hannah Wilson now needs just 12 rebounds for 500 in her career.

UP NEXT
The Rattlers remain at home, hosting Oklahoma Christian at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Eagles dropped a 79-66 decision at St. Edward's on Thursday evening to move to 3-7 on the year, however all three victories are in Lone Star play.