LUBBOCK, Texas – A five-game winning streak came to an end for the St. Mary's Women's Basketball team as they dropped a 70-48 decision at #2 Lubbock Christian on Thursday night.
The Rattlers (8-7, 7-5 Lone Star Conference) were only out-scored by three points in the second half (33-to-30), but went down 18 in the first quarter to the defending national champions. The Lady Chaps (15-2, 9-2 Lone Star) and Rattlers met in a non-divisional game.
Junior
Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas) led the Rattlers with 11 points and was the only one to hit double figures on the team. Junior
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) led the game with nine rebounds and senior
Alexia Torres (San Antonio) dished out a team-high four assists. Eleven of the 12 who saw action in the game grabbed at least one rebound and freshman
Briley Perkins (Houston, Texas) had a team-best two steals.
The Rattlers shot 34.5 percent from the field for the game, while they hit 33.3 percent of their three-point attempts (5-for-15) and they struggled from the free throw line, connecting on just 41.7 percent (5-for-12). On the flip side, LCU shot 42.9 percent from the floor and 37.9 percent from beyond the arc, as well as 84.6 percent (11-for-13) from the charity stripe.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lady Chaps hit a three-pointer to open the scoring, but a free throw from Perkins and a jumper by junior
Audrey Wandji (Houston) knotted the score at 3-3 with 5:44 to play as both teams started a combined 1-for-9 from the field. LCU scored the next 13 points before Wilson snapped the streak with a layup at the 2:15 mark for the 16-5 tally. The Lady Chaps nailed three triples in the final 2:03, while junior
Jessica Barbosa (Bissai, Guinea Bissai) made a jumper for the Rattlers for the 25-7 score. LCU was 7-for-10 from the three-point line in the opening stanza.
Banks scored the first four points on back-to-back driving layups and the teams traded baskets to bring the score to 27-13 with 5:04 remaining. LCU used a 7-0 run to push the lead out to 21, 34-13, but freshman
Bella Hughes (Argyle, Texas) stopped the streak with a triple. After a traditional three-point play for the Chaps, Wilson scored on a layup for the final points of the half and the 37-18 score.
The Rattlers scored the first five points of the third quarter with back-to-back makes from Perkins and Banks as the Gold & Blue closed within 14, 37-23 at 8:14. After a Chaps triple, Banks drilled a pair of free throws and hit a jumper after one LCU free throw for the 41-27 score with 5:58 to play. The teams traded baskets and LCU used another run, this one nine straight to push the lead back to 23, 52-29. Wilson hit a hook shot to stop the rally. After an LCU triple, freshman
Sydney Hardeman (Allen, Texas) and Hughes hit consecutive treys. A conventional three-point play for the Chaps made the third quarter final tally, 58-37.
Hughes scored on a pull-up jumper to open the scoring in the final stanza but the Lady Chaps scored eight of the next nine for the 66-40 advantage. Freshman
Tonia Bilic (Zagreb, Croatia) hit a jumper and after two more free throws for LCU, fellow freshman
McKenzie Piper (Irving, Texas) scored five straight for the Rattlers. LCU hit a jumper and Piper made a free throw for the 70-48 final.
TEAM & INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES
- Hannah Wilson now ranks sixth in St. Mary's history with 62 blocked shots for her career. Wilson moved past Jennifer Currey (1993-97) and needs one more to tie Kiara Etheridge (2013-17) for fifth on the charts.
- Soteria Banks now needs just 23 points to record her 1,000th of her career. Banks has 977 points in two-and-a-half seasons.
- The two teams were whistled for only 18 fouls in the game, by far the combined lowest total of the season. The previous low was 26 at Texas-Tyler.
- St. Mary's was out-rebounded by one in the game, 32-to-31, snapping a seven-game streak of pulling down more boards than the opposition.
- Freshman forward McKenzie Piper tied her career-high with six points, scoring the final six of the game for the Rattlers. She also made and attempted the first three-pointer of her career.
UP NEXT
The Rattlers continue the road trip, heading to San Angelo for a meeting with Angelo State on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Gold & Blue return home to host Texas Woman's and Tarleton State the following weekend. Game times are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Saturday, respectively.
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