Women's Basketball Upsets Sam Houston, 66-65

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Trailing by 13 points in the third quarter, the St. Mary's Women's Basketball team went on an 11-point run to cut the deficit to two and with 4:05 left and took the lead on the final shot of the period, going on to win 66-65 at Sam Houston State in an exhibition contest for the Rattlers.
 
With 17 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and trailing by two, 65-63, Head Coach Valerie Huizar inserted senior Briley Perkins (Houston) back into the lineup and she drained a triple with nine seconds left for the victory. The Bearkats had a look at the basket with two seconds left but sophomore Faith Phillips (San Marcos, Texas) corralled the rebound for the win.
 
Senior Tonia Bilic (Zagreb, Croatia) led the Rattlers (4-1) with a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Freshman Gabby Elliott (San Antonio) came off the bench to add 11 and she took a huge charge with 17 seconds left in the game to set up Perkins' winning bucket.
 
Both senior Natalia Ryng (Gdynia, Poland) and junior Teanna Huggins (San Antonio) chipped in 10 points each. Huggins also led the team with four assists, while Bilic and junior Reyelle Frazier (Tacoma, Wash.) each had three steals.
 
The Rattlers dominated the paint, outscoring the Bearkats (2-4) 42-22 inside. The Bearkats made 12 three-pointers, but missed 14, relying on the outside shot. 
 
St. Mary's shot .458 (27-for-59) for the game, but just .182 (2-for-11) from beyond the arc. They also connected on 10-of-15 (.667) from the charity stripe and they were a perfect 6-for-6 in the first half.
 
The Gold & Blue now turn its attention to Lone Star Conference action, hosting Western New Mexico on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and Eastern New Mexico on Saturday at 1 p.m.