SAN ANTONIO – Free throws proved to be the difference in the game for St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon against Texas A&M Invitational in the 56-46 loss as the Dust Devils were 21-for-28 from the line compared to just 6-of-9 for the Rattlers.
Junior
Sydney Hardeman (Allen, Texas) did everything she could to lift the Rattlers (0-10), including tying the school record with six three-pointers and leading all scorers with 18 points, but the Dust Devils (9-1) made 9-of-12 from the charity stripe in the final quarter giving StMU few chances at the comeback.
Senior
Hannah Wilson (Fredericksburg, Texas) continued to rack up double-doubles, posting her fourth straight and seventh of the year with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman
Faith Phillips (San Marcos, Texas) and junior
Tonia Bilic (Zagreb, Croatia) also crashed the boards hard, garnering nine and eight rebounds, respectively.
St. Mary's out-rebounded TAMIU 47-to-33 on the afternoon, however the Dust Devils scored more points in the paint than the Rattlers, 26-to-20.
Bilic led the team with a career-high five assists, senior
Christina Baker (Mansfield, Texas) came off the bench to grab a game-high tying three steals and Wilson swatted three shots as the Rattlers had five blocked shots compared to just one for TAMIU.
Seven of the eight who played for TAMIU on the day sank at least one from the charity stripe and both Clara Fernandez and Raiana Brown scored 11 points to tie for team-high honors.
The Dust Devils scored the first eight of the game, but the Rattlers answered with a nine-point run of their own. The teams traded points throughout the quarter and were tied 15-15 after the first 10 minutes.
The Rattlers were outscored 12-3 in a low scoring second quarter as TAMIU entered the locker room with a 27-18 lead. Wilson scored all three points for the Gold & Blue and she had her double-double by the break with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
StMU cut the deficit to three, 33-30, behind the strength of two three-pointers by Hardeman. The Devils pushed the lead back to nine, 41-32 with an 8-2 run where six of the points were at the free throw line. Neither team scored the final 1:37 of the quarter.
TAMIU scored six of the first nine of the final period, however the Rattlers answered with a five-point run to make it a seven-point affair, 47-40. The Dust Devils scored the next six to ice the game, despite Hardeman hitting a pair of triples in the final minute, 56-46.
St. Mary's returns to the court on Monday afternoon for a 2 p.m. tip against Texas A&M Kingsville in a non-conference contest. The Javelinas lost 69-60 at St. Edward's on Saturday afternoon.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Sydney Hardeman tied the school record with six three-pointers in the game. She is the third current Rattler to hit the milestone and Bella Hughes (Argyle, Texas) and Briley Perkins (Houston) both drained six in their freshmen season.
- Saturday marked the third-straight game Hannah Wilson has recorded 15 rebounds. She now needs just 20 more in her career to become the second player in school history with 1,000 (1,020 Kiara Etheridge, 2013-17).
- The Rattlers have now out-rebounded their last six opponents after grabbing 47 and holding TAMIU to 33.
- Tonia Bilic recorded a career-high five assists on the day. She had tallied three assists seven times throughout her career.
- The game Monday will be the last before the team takes a break for the holidays. The Rattlers return to action with the Lone Star Conference opener against UT-Permian Basin on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.
