Women's Basketball Can't Hang on to Lead Against No. 16 Montana State Billings

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Five three-pointers by No. 16 Montana State-Billings in the fourth quarter helped lift them past St. Mary's University Women's Basketball at the Daytona Beach Shootout, 65-61 on Monday night.
 
The Rattlers (2-8) gave the Yellowjackets (11-3) all they could handle after the first quarter after starting down 20-9. StMU outscored MSUB 53-45 after the opening stanza but couldn't sustain the lead with the hot shooting by the 'Jackets in the final minutes.
 
Senior guard Ariah Powell (Detroit, Mich.) scored a career-high 23 points – with 18 coming in the second half – bettering her previous high of 20 from Dec. 3, 2022, against Eastern New Mexico. After going just 2-for-4 at the free throw line on Sunday against West Texas A&M, Powell bounced back to go 7-for-7 at the line
 
St. Mary's used its pressure defense to fluster MSUB, but fouls in the final period proved extremely costly as both senior Teanna Huggins (San Antonio) and freshman Vani Sancho (Baton Rouge, La.) fouled out in a two-second stretch. A foul 14 seconds later put the Yellowjackets in the bonus the remainder of the period, where they were 8-for-10 from the charity stripe.
 
StMU freshman Taylor Haggan (Parker, Texas) added 12 points and led the team with eight rebounds. Huggins led the game with three steals, and she ended the night with eight points.
 
Dyauni Boyce paced the Yellowjackets with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
 
The Rattlers get to return home for the holidays, returning to action at Texas A&M Kingsville on Jan. 4 at 5:30 p.m. St. Mary's is 2-2 in Lone Star Conference play.