SAN ANTONIO – It was a tale of two halves for the St. Mary's Basketball team on Friday in the first round of the annual St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic. The Rattlers turned the ball over 17 times in the first half and only scored 16 points, but rebounded to only turn the ball over seven times in the second stanza for 34 points in an 81-50 loss to East Central.
StMU (0-6) out-rebounded the Tigers (3-0) 39 to 26 in the game and was only outscored by one in the second half, 35-34, but was unable to make up any ground they lost in the first half.
Sophomore
Juliett Martinez (San Antonio), who entered the game having only played four minutes on the season, led the Rattlers with 12 points and two steals, scoring her career-high behind the strength of three three-pointers. Senior forward
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) also managed double figures with 10 points, making four of her five shots from the field.
Freshman
Faith Phillips (San Marcos, Texas) led the game with six rebounds, while Wilson, sophomore
Maya Simon (Corpus Christi, Texas) and junior forward Natalie Ryng (Gdynia, Poland) all were tied for second with five boards. Freshman Sarai Estupiñan (Cedar Park, Texas) paced the team with three assists.
The Tigers jumped out to the early lead, taking advantage with 26 points off turnovers, and never trailed throughout the game, leading by as many as 37 points midway through the fourth quarter. Fouls were also an issue for the Rattlers as they committed 28 in the game and had three players foul out in junior guard
Briley Perkins (Houston), Simon and Martinez.
St. Mary's continues the Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday with a game against Minnesota State at 4 p.m. The Tigers face Texas A&M Kingsville in the early contest at 2 p.m.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Senior forward Hannah Wilson now needs just five points to become the 17th player in St. Mary's history with 1,000 for her career.
- Sophomore guard Juliett Martinez scored a career-high 12 points to lead the team in scoring for the first time in her career. Martinez bettered her previous career-high of nine from UT-Tyler on Jan. 30, 2021.
- Faith Phillips led the team in rebounding for the first-time this season. She grabbed a game-high six rebounds, just one off her career-high of seven from earlier this season against #3 Lander (Nov. 20).
- The Rattlers recorded 11 assists on 16 baskets.
- St. Mary's out-rebounded its second-straight opponent, grabbing 39 rebounds to 26 for the Tigers. The Rattlers now have a +1.5 rebounding margin for the season.
