SAN ANGELO – The St. Mary's Women's Basketball team went cold from the field in the fourth quarter, going scoreless the final five minutes and 20 seconds as Angelo State won 69-55 on Monday afternoon.
The Rattlers (0-9) held a two-point edge at halftime, 27-25, but were unable to hold on to the advantage as the Rambelles (2-7) won their second-straight game.
Junior
Tonia Bilic (Zagreb, Croatia), getting her first start of the season, made the most of her opportunity and did everything she could to lift the Rattlers. She posted her first career double-double, tying her career-high with 17 points and grabbing a career-best 12 rebounds.
Senior
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) also tallied 15 points and 15 rebounds for her third-consecutive double-double and sixth of the season. Wilson added two blocked shots to lead all players. The pair were the two highest scorers in the game, combining for 32 of the team's 55 points.
Freshman
Faith Phillips (San Marcos, Texas) brought down a career-best 10 rebounds as the Rattlers had a huge edge, 58-43 on the boards. Fellow freshman Sarai Estupiñan (Cedar Park, Texas) also had a career-high with six rebounds. Phillips also led the way with two assists and junior
Sydney Hardeman (Allen, Texas) had two steals.
St. Mary's returns home to host Texas A&M International on Saturday at 2 p.m., before Texas A&M Kingsville comes to town on Monday for a 2 p.m. tilt. Both games will be non-conference affairs.
Before the opening tip, the Rattlers grabbed a 2-0 lead as Hardeman made both free throws on an administrative technical. StMU stretched that lead to 10-2 at the media timeout, but the Belles fought back with a 10-0 run of their own to take the 12-10 lead. Junior
Brianna Ford (San Antonio) made a layup for the final points of the quarter and the second tie, 12-12.
Bilic scored the first three points of the second quarter at the free throw line to gain a 15-12 lead. The Rams scored 10 of the next 12 as the scoreboard read 22-17. An 8-0 run by the Rattlers forced the sixth lead change of the day and put them plus three, 25-22. After one free throw by the Rams, Wilson was triple teamed and found Bilic right under the basket for the layup. ASU ended the quarter with a pair of free throws and the Rattlers held the 27-25 lead at halftime. The StMU defense held the Rambelles scoreless from the field over the final 4:43 as their three points were all at the charity stripe.
The third quarter started the same way, with Bilic making a free throw. Wilson scored on a traditional three-point play to push the advantage to six, 31-25. A 5-0 mini run by ASU brought them within one, 31-30. Each team made back-to-back buckets for the 35-34 tally. After a Wilson layup, the Belles took the lead of a pair of baskets, 38-37. The teams went back and forth to 44-41, when an 8-0 ASU run gave them the 49-44 lead with 1:21 to go. Bilic once again snapped the streak with a layup, Estupiñan added a pair of free throws and ASU ended the third quarter scoring with a layup for the 51-48 tally.
The first five points of the quarter were scored at the free throw line, as Wilson sank the first and Angelo State made four to push its lead to six, 55-49. A layup off a steal by the Rambelles forced a StMU timeout. One more basket for ASU brought the score to 59-49, which Bilic went to work, sinking a pair of free throws and scoring on a traditional three-point play to close within five, 59-54. The Rattlers managed only one point over the final 5:32 as Angelo State made 8-of-10 from the free throw line for the 69-55 win.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Tonia Bilic tallied her first career double-double, tying her career-high with 17 points and getting a career-best 12 rebounds.
- Hannah Wilson collected her third-straight and sixth double-double of the year with 15 of each.
- Both freshmen Faith Phillips and Sarai Estupiñan tallied career-highs in rebounds with 10 and six, respectively.
- The Rattlers had a +15 rebounding margin over the Belles, the largest margin of the season. Twice before, the Gold & Blue has out-rebounded an opponent by 13.
- St. Mary's was 18-for-24 from the free throw line in the game. It is the most points scored from the charity stripe this season and the second-straight game the team has shot at least 75 percent from the line.
