Seven Score Eight or More to Lead Women to First Round Win

SAN ANTONIO – The St. Mary's Women's Basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, trailing only nine seconds of the 40 minutes in their first-ever Lone Star Conference Tournament game, defeating the visiting Cameron Aggies 84-71 on Tuesday night.

The Rattlers (14-13) now advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament to face top-seeded Texas A&M Commerce. All four home teams and higher seeds won on Tuesday night to move to Frisco.

St. Mary's used a balanced scoring attack in the game as seven players scored eight or more, led by junior Soteria Banks (Round Rock, Texas) with 21, while freshman Briley Perkins (Houston) added 13 and both Sydney Hardeman (Allen, Texas) and Bella Hughes (Argyle, Texas) chipped in 10. It is the first time since Nov. 21 at Texas-Tyler the Rattlers had four reach double digits in scoring. Alexia Torres (San Antonio), Mya Culiver (Rockwall, Texas) and Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) all also scored eight.

Wilson led the game with 16 rebounds, giving her double figures in boards for the fourth straight game and the 13^th time this season. Torres tied for game-high honors with five assists and Wilson led the way with a season-high tying three blocked shots.

St. Mary's grabbed 53 rebounds in the game, the fourth time this year they've topped the 50 milestone and the second-straight game. The Rattlers held the Aggies (13-16) to 45 rebounds. The Rattlers also out-shot the Aggies in all facets of the game as they connected on 40.9 percent from the field, 43.8 (7-for-16) from the three-point line and 82.1 (23-for-28) from the free throw line, while Cameron shot 33.3 percent from the floor, 23.1 (6-for-26) from beyond the arc and 60 (15-for-25) at the charity stripe.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rattlers leaped out to an 8-0 start, with two baskets by Wilson and one each from Perkins and Banks. A free throw by the Lions snapped the streak, but Perkins responded with two of her own at the charity stripe for the 10-1 advantage. Cameron scored the next 10 points to take an 11-10 lead, but it was short lived as Hughes made one and Torres sank two at the free throw line to regain the lead, 13-11. Banks poured in the final jumper of the quarter for the 15-11 lead.

The run continued for the Rattlers to start the second quarter as they added eight more to give them a 13-point rally to push the lead to 23-11. Hughes hit a pair of three's and Culiver made both free throws during the stretch. After five straight by the Aggies, Hughes drained a long two-pointer which spurred another 11-point run and the Rattlers led 33-16 with 4:07 on the clock. Cameron scored and the teams traded triples to bring the score to 36-21. Torres and Culiver scored on back-to-back baskets, the Aggies made one free throw and Hardeman drained a three with three ticks left for the 43-22 halftime score. Wilson reached double digits with 11 rebounds in the first 20 minutes and she also tied her season-high with three blocks.

The Aggies scored the opening basket of the second half and Perkins drilled a three-pointer to give the Rattlers their largest lead of the game at 22 points, 46-24 with 9:29 on the clock. Cameron hit back-to-back shots and the teams went back-and-forth to the 57-40 score with 3:44 remaining. The Aggies scored seven of the next nine points to cut the Rattlers lead to 12, 59-47 with 1:41 left and the teams went back-and-forth until Perkins hit another three with under five seconds left for the 66-51 score at the end of three periods.

Hughes sank a free throw and junior Jessica Barbosa (Bissai, Guinea Bissai) added a basket for the first three points of the final stanza. After trading points, CU scored seven straight to make it an 11-point game, 71-60 at the 6:53 mark. Hardeman hit her second long ball of the night to push the lead back to 14 and Wilson made two at the free throw line for the 76-60 edge. Cameron made one at the charity stripe and Barbosa scored on a layup with 4:34 left so the scoreboard read 78-61. Neither team scored over the next 2:23 when the Aggies broke the drought on a fastbreak jumper and scored the next four as well to make it an 11-point game again, 78-67 with 54 seconds left. Culiver sank four free throws and freshman Tonia Bilic (Zagreb, Croatia) two in the final 47 seconds, while Cameron made one at the stripe and a triple for the 84-71 final.

TEAM & INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES

• The Rattlers had four score in double figures for the first time since Nov. 23, 2019 at Texas-Tyler. On that night, Soteria Banks (13), Sydney Hardeman (12), Bella Hughes (11) and Hannah Wilson (10) all scored 10 or more, while on Tuesday against Cameron it was Banks (21), Hardeman (10), Hughes (10) and Briley Perkins (13) who all hit double figures.
• Hannah Wilson tied her season high with three blocked shots – and all three came in the first half. It is the fourth time this season she has swatted three shots in a game.
• Mya Culiver went 6-for-6 at the free throw line, establishing new career-highs in both categories (makes and attempts). She had never before made more than four free throws in a game.
• Soteria Banks topped the 20-point scoring milestone for the 10^th time this season and the 18^th time in her career with 21.
• Banks also moved up one spot on the St. Mary's career scoring list and now ranks 12^th with 1,168 points. She passes Vicki Mason, who scored 1,167 from 1982-85. Banks also made one three-pointer on the night, which moves her into a tie for 8^th all-time with 124 (Chastity Noble, 2006-10).
• With her 16 rebounds, Hannah Wilson now ranks fifth in St. Mary's history with 690 career boards. She passes both Mary Hoernschemeyer (1979-83) and Shirley Griffen (1980-83) who each tallied 684 in their stellar careers.

UP NEXT
The Rattlers continue in the Lone Star Conference Tournament, traveling to Frisco to meet top-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce on Thursday at 6 p.m. It is the third of four scheduled games in the newly expanded league.