STEPHENSVILLE, Texas – Playing its second overtime game in three contests, the St. Mary's Women's Basketball team won a 74-67 thriller at Tarleton State on Thursday evening.
The Texans (19-6, 13-6 Lone Star Conference) were ranked fifth in the first regional rankings earlier this week and the Rattlers (13-11, 12-8 Lone Star) avenged a 15-point loss at home back on Feb. 1. St. Mary's has won four of the last five contests – with the lone loss coming in overtime a week ago.
"I thought our team did a great job of executing the defensive game plan," said Head Coach
Jason Martens. "We wanted to slow their inside game tonight and we did that."
The defense held the Texans to 32.8 percent shooting for the game and just 25 percent (5-for-20) from beyond the arc. Offensively, the Rattlers shot 39 percent for the contest and 39.3 from the three-point line (11-for-28). The Rattlers also out-rebounded the Texans 49-to-38.
Redshirt freshman
Sydney Hardeman (Allen, Texas) scored a career- and game-high 18 points, while fellow freshman
Briley Perkins (Houston) was right behind her with 17. Junior
Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas) rounded out a trio in double figures with 10 points.
"I thought Syd and Briley were huge for us tonight," Martens continued. "They were hitting big three's throughout, but especially in OT when we needed it."
Junior
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) continued to dominate on the boards, grabbing a game-high 14. Senior
Alexia Torres (San Antonio) led the game with six assists and three steals.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Tarleton State got on board first with a layup, but junior
Jessica Barbosa (Bissai, Guinea Bissai) answered with one of her own to knot the game at 2-2. After a triple by the Texans, junior
Christina Baker (Mansfield, Texas) hit a jumper for the 4-5 score with 5:39 to play. TSU hit a pair of free throws and Banks nailed a jumper for the 6-7 score. After the Texans scored four straight, Banks hit a triple to end the first quarter with the Rattlers trailing 11-9.
The Rattlers took the lead by scoring the first six points of the second stanza with freshman
Bella Hughes (Argyle, Texas) drilling a three and junior
Mya Culiver (Rockwall, Texas) scoring on a traditional three-point play for the 15-11 lead. After two free throws by the Texans, Hardeman hit a triple and Torres followed with a layup to stretch the lead to seven, 20-13 with 3:39 to go. TSU scored on a traditional three-point play and Hughes answered with a jumper to make the score 22-15. The teams traded points and TSU scored four consecutive to cut it to two, 24-22 with 43 seconds left but Hardeman hit a long three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Rattlers up 27-22 at halftime.
Wilson scored on a putback to open the third quarter and TSU scored the next four to cut the Rattlers lead to three, 29-26. The Rattlers responded with back-to-back buckets to push the score to 33-26 with 6:07 on the clock. The teams traded three-pointers and the Texans scored on a layup for the 36-31 tally at 4:41. Banks and Hardeman sank triples around a TSU layup for the 42-31 score at 2:33. Tarleton State high back-to-back triples to close within three, 42-39 and Perkins answered with two free throws – shooting for Hughes who went down on the play for the 44-39 score. TSU ended the quarter with a jumper for the 44-41 score.
A traditional three-point play by the Texans knotted the score for the second time at 44-44, but the Rattlers scored the next four, two at the charity stripe by Banks and a great layup on an inbounds play by Wilson for the 48-44 lead. The teams traded points to 50-46 and Hardeman drilled a three at the 4-minute mark for the 53-46 advantage. After trading points, TSU scored five straight to make it a two-point game, 55-53 with 1:51 remaining. Perkins drained a three and a free throw after a Texans layup for the 59-55 tally. Trailing 60-57 the Texans sank three free throws with five seconds on the clock to force overtime.
Hardeman hit her fifth triple of the game 34 seconds into the extra period and the Rattlers never trailed. The Texans scored a free throw and Perkins sank two of her own. After a pair at the charity stripe by TSU, Perkins drained her third trey for the 68-63 advantage with 55 seconds to go. Torres sank one and Hardeman made two free throws to push the lead back to seven, 71-63. TSU made a jumper, but Hardeman hit a free throw and after a TSU layup, Torres made both of her attempts for the 74-67 final.
TEAM & INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES
- Sydney Hardeman scored a career-high 18 points behind the strength of five three-pointers. She betters her previous high of 14 from Central Oklahoma on Nov. 29, 2019.
- St. Mary's made 11 three-pointers on the night, the 11th time this season they've hit double figures and the third time in the last four contests.
- Briley Perkins scored in double figures for the sixth time and scored 17 for the second-straight game. She's been in double digits in three of the last four games.
- Soteria Banks has notched 10 assists in the last two games, including four on Thursday evening.
- The Rattlers out-rebounded the Texans 49-to-38. It is the 17th time this year the team has brought down more boards than the opposition and the fifth time they've had a +10 or more margin.
UP NEXT
The Rattlers play their final road game of the 2019-20 season on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Texas Woman's. The following Saturday, St. Mary's hosts rival St. Edward's in the final regular season contest of the year.
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