Women's Basketball Snaps Skid in Huge Fashion

FORT SMITH, Ark. – A complete team effort helped the St. Mary's Women's Basketball snap an eight-game skid on Thursday, as they led wire-to-wire in a 75-56 victory at Arkansas-Fort Smith.
 
First-year head coach Valerie Huizar used the fifth different starting lineup of the season, returning senior Tonia Bilic (Zagreb, Croatia) to the initial rotation. She started alongside seniors Briley Perkins and Natalia Ryng, junior Teanna Huggins and freshman Gabby Elliott.
 
Elliott (San Antonio) scored in double digits for the sixth-straight game leading all players with 18 points and grabbed her second career double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds. She also added two assists and three steals.
 
Junior Bella Hughes (Argyle, Texas) came off the bench to score a season-high 13 points behind the strength of four three-pointers and Ryng was also in double digits with 11 points. Junior Jaedyn Dunn (Houston) drained three triples for nine points and sophomore Faith Phillips (San Marcos, Texas) added eight and was second on the team with seven rebounds.
 
St. Mary's (6-9, 2-7 Lone Star) limited the Lady Lions (4-12, 2-8 LSC) to two offensive rebounds, using defense to transition to offense, outrebounding them 45-to-24 on the night.
 
Huggins led the club with four assists, while Elliott had a game-high steals and Bilic blocked the lone shot for the Gold & Blue.
 
The Rattlers took control early, scoring the first eight points of the game, with two buckets by Bilic, one by Elliott and two free throws by Ryng and the team lead 15-4 after the first 10 minutes.
 
After a Bilic layup, the Lions went on a 7-2 run to cut the Rattlers lead to eight, 19-11 with 6:22 to play. The teams went back-and-forth until the scoreboard read 25-17 when the Rattlers pushed the lead out to 19 with an 11-0 run. The Lions scored four of the final five points for the 37-21 score. During the 11-point stretch, Dunn hit a pair of three-pointers, while Hughes drained one. Five different StMU players scored between five and nine points in the first 20 minutes, while Elliott had a team-best six rebounds.
 
The Lions hit five three-pointers in the third quarter to cut into the Rattlers lead, 51-42. Five different Rattlers scored in the quarter as the team continued to spread the ball around. St. Mary's took over in the fourth quarter, outscoring UAFS 24-14 and holding the Lions without a field goal the final four minutes of the game. StMU hit all four of its three-point attempts in the final stanza with all four coming from different players.
 
The four-game road trip concludes at Oklahoma Christian on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Eagles dropped a 57-46 decision to St. Edward's on Thursday evening and are 2-11 on the year.