Tuesday, December 12 • Cameron • 1 p.m.
Cameron (2-7, 0-3)
Head Coach: Jeff Mahoney (15-23)
at St. Mary's (2-5, 2-1)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (51-46)
Arena: Bill Greehey Arena
Opening Tip
• St. Mary's Women's Basketball closes out the home portion of the 2023 calendar by hosting Cameron on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on the Lone Star Conference Network and Dan Hawkins will call the game.
• Cameron has won the last two games in the series, but the Rattlers hold a 10-5 lead in the all-time series. A season ago the Aggies hung on to win by two after the Rattlers trailed by 10 with less than a minute remaining. StMU is 4-2 at home, last winning at Bill Greehey on March 3, 2020.
• The win against Midwestern State on Wednesday marked the first time since 2020-21 the Rattlers have won consecutive Lone Star Conference games.
• St. Mary's erased an 18-point deficit early in the third quarter (8:55), scoring 50 of its 70 points in the paint for their second-straight win.
• Both freshman Taylor Haggan (24) and senior Teanna Huggins (20) scored career-highs in the team's win over Midwestern State. Haggan bettered her previous high of 22 from Nov. 11 against Regis, while Huggins posted her second-straight high after 19 against ENMU.
• The Rattlers blocked a season-high seven shots in the win over the Mustangs. It is the most for StMU since they blocked eight in a double overtime victory against Western New Mexico on Dec. 1, 2022.
• The win at Eastern New Mexico on Dec. 2 marked the 50th in the career of head coach Valerie Huizar. It is her fourth season as a head coach, and second at St. Mary's.
• St. Mary's shot 52.6 percent in the win against Midwestern state, the highest shooting percentage in a game since the team shot 56.0 in a win over UAFS on Feb. 17, 2018.
• Senior Ariah Powell grabbed a career-high eight rebounds in the win over Midwestern State despite often being the shortest player on the court. Powell as at least one rebound in all seven games this season.
• Freshman Taylor Haggan currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference in scoring, averaging 17.1 points per game, only 0.3 behind the league leader, Grace Foster from Lubbock Christian.
• In each of the Rattlers wins, senior Teanna Huggins has been 8-for-11 from the field and she is averaging 17.3 points per game in Lone Star play, increasing her scoring average almost 10 points from non-conference action (7.5). She currently ranks fifth in league games in scoring, third in field goal percentage (.645), fifth in assists (4.3), 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) and 10th with 7.3 rebounds per game.
• Since turning the calendar to Lone Star play, the Rattlers defense is allowing opponents to shoot only 35.4 percent from the field, which ranks second in the league, while the 61.7 points allowed ranks sixth.
• Newcomers Sian Phipps and Vani Sancho combined for 14 second-half points in win at Eastern New Mexico. The seven points each are career-highs for the duo and sparked the win.
• St. Mary's brought down 50 rebounds in the 52-47 loss to #12 Missouri Western State, 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Several Rattlers are closing in on career milestones or recently achieved one:
Taylor Haggan: 100th point vs MSU (120)
Teanna Huggins: 300th point vs MSU (302); 11 assists from 100
Michaela Kucera: 16 rebounds shy of 100; 20 points shy of 100
Ariah Powell: 200th point at StMU (208); 2 rebounds shy of 100
Evelyn Quiroz: 13 rebounds shy 200
Natalia Ryng: 4 defensive rebounds shy of 100
• 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.
• 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.
