LUBBOCK, Texas – Turnovers once again proved to be crucial for the St. Mary's Women's Basketball Team. The Rattlers had 30 miscues in the opening game of the Lady Chap Invitational, falling to Southern Nazarene, 70-56.
The Rattlers (0-3) cut the deficit to two, 53-51 off a pair of
Natalia Ryng (Gdynia, Poland) free throws with 4:34 remaining, but 10 of the next 12 points went to the Storm and they remained unbeaten on the year (3-0).
Almost half of the Storm's points, 30 of the 70, came off the 30 Rattler turnovers. Both teams had 10 offensive rebounds, but the Storm capitalized, getting 17 second chance points, while the Rattlers scored eight.
StMU did outrebound SNU, winning the battle of the boards, 34-to-28 and the Gold and Blue shot 43.8 percent from the three-point line, making 7-of-16. Senior forward
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) led the game with eight rebounds and she led the team in scoring with 13 points.
Sydney Hardeman (Allen, Texas) was also in double digits in scoring with 11 points. Hardeman sank her first three triples in the first quarter to keep the Rattlers within two at the end of 10, 16-14.
St. Mary's returns to the court on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., facing #3 Lander in the second game of the day at Lubbock Christian.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Senior guard Mya Culiver (Rockwall, Texas) scored the 400th point of her career and now has 401.
- Sydney Hardeman scored her 200th point with her first three-pointer and now has 208 in 31 games.
- Hannah Wilson added eight rebounds to her career total and now has 890, needing just five more to tie Erin Griffin (2000-2004) for third all-time in school history.
- The seven three-pointers by the Rattlers are the most this season. The team has hit at least five in all three contests.
- The nine steals by the Rattlers are also the highest total, tripling the total from each of the first two games as they had only three each last week in Colorado.
