Banks' Milestone Night Lifts Women's Basketball Past Pioneers

SAN ANTONIO – A milestone night for St. Mary's Women's Basketball junior Soteria Banks helped lift the Rattlers to a 65-56 victory over Texas Woman's on Thursday evening.

Banks, from Round Rock, Texas not only tied her career-high with 29 points, but she also scored the 1,000^th point of her career with her first bucket at the 4:56 mark of the first quarter. Her 29 points ties the output she had a season ago in the team's win over #1 Central Missouri in double overtime.
The Rattlers (9-9, 8-6 Lone Star Conference) also had junior forward Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) notch her sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior Alexia Torres (San Antonio) led the contest with six assists and two steals. Torres also tied her career-high with seven rebounds, doing so for the third time.

Texas Woman's (6-11, 4-9 Lone Star) was paced by Ma'K'La Woods with 24 points and seven rebounds and she was the only player in double figures.

The Rattlers shot 38.2 percent for the game and 26.1 percent from the three-point line (6-for-23). The Gold & Blue had a good night at the free throw line, making 17-of-20 (85 percent) – the third-highest total at the charity stripe this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded two layups each to kick things off for the 4-4 tie. Banks made a layup at the 4:56 mark to give her 1,000 career points and lift the Rattlers to a 6-4 advantage. The Pioneers knotted the score for the third tie, but Banks answered with another layup. Over two minutes later, TWU tied the contest again at 8-8 and with eight seconds they took the 11-8 on their first triple of the night.

Banks drained a long ball to knot the tally at 11-11. Woods scored the next six for the Pioneers and the Rattlers responded with a six-point run of their own for the 17-17 tie. After a five-point run for TWU, Banks hit a three and Wilson scored on a putback for the 22-22 tally with 1:59 on the clock. The teams traded jumpers and after a TWU basket, Banks drained a three for the team's first lead at 27-26. With 11 seconds left, TWU made a pair of free throws to enter the locker room up 28-27.

Woods opened the third quarter with a TWU basket, but the Rattlers scored the next nine points – including five by junior Christina Baker (Mansfield, Texas) for the 36-30 lead. After a Pioneers timeout, they scored on a traditional three-point play to cut the lead in half, however Torres hit a pair of free throws to push the advantage back to five, 38-33. The teams exchanged two free throws each and freshman Bella Hughes (Argyle, Texas) made one of two from the charity stripe for the 41-35 score. After a triple by TWU, Wilson made a layup and the Pioneers made 1-of-2 at the line as the scoreboard read 43-39. Banks hit another three before TWU scored four straight for a three-point spread, 46-43. With 26 seconds remaining, freshman Briley Perkins (Houston, Texas) hit her only basket of the game – a three-pointer – and Banks ended the quarter with two at the charity stripe for the 51-43 tally.

A 9-0 run by the Pioneers to begin the fourth quarter gave them the lead back, 52-51, however it was short lived as junior Jessica Barbosa (Bissai, Guinea Bissai) made a jumper at 5:25 to regain the advantage for good. The Barbosa basket kicked off an 8-0 run for the Rattlers to extend the lead to seven, 59-52. After trading two free throws each, TWU hit its first bucket in 10 tries with 33 seconds left. Both Banks and Torres made both free throws in the final 30 seconds to ice the win, 65-56.

TEAM & INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES

• Soteria Banks tied her career-high in scoring with 29 points, matching her output from a year ago in the double overtime victory over then-#1 Central Missouri. It is the eighth time this season and the 16^th time in her career she's scored 20 or more points in a game.
• Banks also hit the 1,000-point career milestone with her first basket of the game. She now has 1,027 in her stellar career.
• Hannah Wilson notched her sixth double-double of the year with 14 points and 11 rebounds. It is the 14^th of her career – and all six this season come against Lone Star opponents.
• St. Mary's held Texas Woman's to five offensive rebounds in the game and just one in the first half. On the flip side, the Rattlers grabbed 14 rebounds on the offensive end of the floor – giving them double figure o-boards for the 11^th consecutive contest.
• Christina Baker scored a career-high seven points, sparking a 9-0 run for the Rattlers to begin the second half.
• The +20 rebounding margin for the Rattlers is the largest margin of the season, bettering the +19 margin the team had against Oklahoma Christian on Jan. 4.

UP NEXT
St. Mary's remains at home, hosting Tarleton State on Saturday at 2 p.m. The team will then head to Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M-International for rematches with both clubs. Earlier this season the Rattlers defeated the Javelinas, 64-62 and the Dust Devils, 65-56.