SAN ANTONIO – Despite being double and triple-teamed all night, St. Mary's senior forward
Hannah Wilson put on a show on Saturday against Minnesota State, scoring a career-best 37 points in the 81-72 loss.
Wilson scored the 1,000th point of her career with 2:49 left in the first quarter and went on to break the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic scoring record and come within one point of the StMU single game record. She broke the tournament record of 35 points, held by both Jordan Goforth, Arkansas-Monticello (vs Angelo State, Nov. 28, 2015) and
Kaitlin Walla, StMU (vs #1 Central Missouri, 11/23/2018 {2ot}).
Wilson also posted her fourth double-double of the year with a game-high 12 rebounds. She was 17-of-23 from the field and had two of the team's three blocked shots in the contest.
Junior guard
Sydney Hardeman (Allen, Texas) also posted a season-high 16 points, hitting four three-pointers on the day and she and freshman
Faith Phillips (San Marcos, Texas) tied for second on the team with six rebounds each. Phillips also notched a career- and team-high four assists.
St. Mary's out-rebounded the Mavericks by 13 in the game, 43-30, including a 25-11 edge in the second half during the team's valiant comeback effort. The Rattlers (0-7) trailed by 20 at halftime, 47-27, but out-scored the Mavs (5-0) 45-34 in the second half.
StMU shot 49.1 percent in the game, a season-best by seven percent, and hit 12-of-17 from the free throw line (70.6 percent). The 12 makes are tied for the second most in 2021-22.
After playing five games in the last nine days, the Rattlers finally get a chance to catch their breath with the next game happening on Dec. 11, a non-conference matchup against Lone Star Conference foe UT-Permian Basin in Odessa at 2 p.m. The remainder of the 2021-22 schedule takes place against teams in the league, though the next four are all non-league tilts.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Hannah Wilson came within one point of the school record in scoring with a career-best 37 points. The record of 38 is held by Arysia Porter against Oklahoma Christian on Feb. 16, 2019.
- Wilson also broke the StMU Thanksgiving Classic scoring record of 35 points held by Jordan Goforth from Arkansas-Monticello (2015) and the Rattlers Kaitlin Walla (2018). She also breaks the tournament mark for field goals made with 17, breaking the previous record of 14 held by Britney Jordan from Texas A&M Commerce in the tournament's first year, 2008.
- Sydney Hardeman just missed her career-high in scoring of 18, with 16 against the Mavericks. Her total is a season-best and she led the game with four three-pointers.
- Faith Phillips led the team with four assists and was second on the club with six rebounds – just one off her season-best of seven.
- The Rattlers out-rebounded its third-straight opponent, winning the battle of the boards, 43-30. The team was being out-rebounded 19-17 in the first half, but grabbed 25 while limiting the Mavericks to 11 in the second half.
- Hardeman scored the first 10 points for the Rattlers in the third quarter, sinking a pair of triples and two from inside the arc as the team began its comeback.
- In the other game of the tournament on Saturday, Texas A&M Kingsville defeated East Central, 73-68.
