Thursday, November 30 • at Western New Mexico • 5:30 p.m. MT/6:30 p.m. CT
St. Mary's (0-4)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (49-45)
at Western New Mexico (4-0)
Head Coach: Josh Pace (21-36)
Arena: Drag's Court
Saturday, December 2 • at Eastern New Mexico • 1 p.m. MT/2 p.m. CT
St. Mary's (0-4)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (49-45)
at Eastern New Mexico (4-2)
Head Coach: Blake Huber (33-4)
Arena: Greyhound Arena
Opening Tip
• St. Mary's Women's Basketball begins its fifth season in the Lone Star Conference at Western New Mexico and Eastern New Mexico this weekend. The Rattlers open league play with undefeated Western New Mexico (4-0) on Thursday before heading to Portales to face Eastern New Mexico (4-2) on Saturday.
• Thursday marks only the second time in the series the Rattlers will play in Silver City as the two teams played for the first time in 2006 at Drag's Court. StMU holds a 5-2 edge in the series and all three previous meetings (2-1) have been at Bill Greehey Arena.
• The Rattlers are looking to snap a four-game losing skid in the series with Eastern New Mexico and they trail 3-5 in the all-time series. StMU is 0-1 in Portales after a 77-61 loss on Jan. 20, 2022.
• St. Mary's brought down 50 rebounds in the 52-47 loss to #12 Missouri Western State last week, tying the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic record for rebounds in a game. The Rattlers tied the 2014 team that grabbed 50 boards against Angelo State.
• The Rattlers return home next week to host Midwestern State on Dec. 6 for the Jingle Mart game. Bring a toy or clothing for youth and receive free admission. The items will be donated to Jingle Mart - which aids foster families.
• Senior Teanna Huggins recorded a career-best seven assists in the team's loss to Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday. It is the most for a Rattler since Mya Culiver recorded nine on Jan. 20, 2022 at Eastern New Mexico.
• Freshman Taylor Haggan currently ranks third in the Lone Star Conference in scoring (18.2) and fourth in rebounding (9.0), ranking in the top 60 in the nation in both. She is also tied for the Lone Star Conference lead with two double-doubles and is 10th in free throw percentage (.833).
• Freshman Ramsey Robledo ranks third in the conference in free throw percentage (.909), making 10 of her 11 attempts.
• Both Teanna Huggins and Sheridan Kavanagh have more offensive than defensive rebounds this season. The duo each have nine rebounds on offense and six on defense, averaging 3.8 rebounds per game.
• St. Mary's had 16 assists and only 13 turnovers against Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday, marking the first time this season the team had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. A big part of the reason was Teanna Huggins with seven assists and only one miscue.
• The Rattlers beat a Division I foe for the second-straight year, winning 70-64 in an exhibition at UTRGV on Nov 4. A season ago, the Gold and Blue won a thrilling 66-65 decision at Sam Houston State on a last second three-pointer.
• In last season's conference opener against Western New Mexico, the Rattlers pulled off a thrilling 76-73 double overtime victory. Ariah Powell was one of four Rattlers to score in double figures with 12 and senior Tonia Bilic collected a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
• Freshman forward Taylor Haggan has already put herself among the elite at St. Mary's. She became the first-ever freshman to record double-doubles in her first two collegiate games and the first two record back-to-back 20-point scoring games in a season since Soteria Banks did so in 2017-18.
• A season ago, StMU struggled at the free throw line, ranking 16th in the Lone Star at just 65.2 percent. This season, the team is shooting 71.6 percent from the charity stripe and three players are shooting above 80% (Ramsey Robledo, .909; Vani Sancho, .857; Taylor Haggan, .833).
• The Rattlers have half the team returning from the 2022-23 season and welcome eight newcomers for a total of 15 players on the roster. Of the eight newcomers, four are freshmen and four are transfers.
• The Rattlers are now 7-43 since joining the Division II ranks against nationally-ranked foes. The Rattlers dropped a 52-47 decision to #12 Missouri Western State last week. The last win against a team in the top-25 came on Nov. 23, 2018 against #1 Central Missouri in double overtime, 101-97.
• Senior forward Natalia Ryng was named a Player to Watch by the Lone Star Conference. Ryng concluded last season narrowly missing a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals in the team's win over rival, St. Edward's.
• The next victory for St. Mary's will be the 50th in the career of Head Coach Valerie Huizar.
• The 2023-24 season is the 46th for St. Mary's University. The Rattlers are 709-563 in 45+ years of play.
• Head Coach Valerie Huizar was one of the featured coaches by the WBCA during October's Hispanic Heritage Month.
• Several Rattlers are closing in on career milestones or recently achieved one:
Jaedyn Dunn: 100th point vs OBU (103)
Taylor Haggan: 27 points from 100
Teanna Huggins: 250th point vs OBU (250); 10 rebounds from 150
Sheridan Kavanagh: 100th rebound vs MWSU (104); 150th point vs MWSU (163)
Michaela Kucera: 20 rebounds shy of 100
Ariah Powell: 22 points shy 200 at StMU; 12 rebounds shy of 100
Evelyn Quiroz: 13 rebounds shy 200
Natalia Ryng: 5 rebounds shy 300
• St. Mary's returns two starters off last season's team in Natalia Ryng and Teanna Huggins, who each started all 28 games, while the duo of Reyelle Frazier (13) and Ariah Powell (10) split time starting.
• All seven returners on the team were named to the Lone Star Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll for the spring semester, carrying a minimum GPA of 3.30 for the semester. Michaela Kucera, Alexis Robinson and Natalia Ryng also earned D2 ADA Academic Achievement Awards for having a 3.5 minimum cumulative GPA.
