Women's Basketball Looks to Bring Momentum Home

Wednesday, December 6 • Midwestern State • 5:30 p.m. 
Midwestern State (0-8, 0-2)
Head Coach: Brenita Jackson (52-21) 
at St. Mary's (1-5, 1-1)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (50-46)
Arena: Bill Greehey Arena

Opening Tip

•    St. Mary's Women's Basketball returns home to host Midwestern State on Wednesday. Bring a gift for youth, unwrapped, and receive free admission to the game as part of Jingle Mart. The gifts will go to foster families in the area who are in need of assistance during the holidays.

•    The win on Saturday 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.

•    Senior Teanna Huggins scored a career-high 19 points in the win over the Greyhounds on Saturday. She betters her previous career-high of 16 from Feb. 23, 2023 against St. Edward's.

•    Midwestern State and St. Mary's will be playing in San Antonio for the first time since 2017-18 - before the Rattlers joined the Lone Star Conference. The last four contests, and three league games, have all taken place in Wichita Falls. 

•    The Rattlers hold a slight 7-5 lead in the all-time series against Midwestern State and the teams are tied at 2-2 in San Antonio, as well as 1-1 in Bill Greehey.

•    At Western New Mexico on Friday, the Rattlers recorded their second-straight positive assist-to-turnover ratio with 11 assists and 10 turnovers. StMU also had 16 assists and 13 turnovers against Oklahoma Baptist.

•    A season ago, it took the Rattlers until the 10th game of the season to post a fourth game shooting 70 percent or better from the free throw line. This year, the team did it in almost half the time, shooting .700 for the fourth time in game six. The Rattlers are shooting 73.5 percent at the charity stripe, four points better than their opponents and over 80 points better than a season ago.

•    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. The 43 points by StMU in the second half is the most this season, bettering the 39 they scored in the second half at Colorado School of Mines.

•    In the last three games, Teanna Huggins has collected 14 rebounds and 14 assists (4.67/game). The senior had a career-high seven assists against Oklahoma Baptist, the most by a Rattler since Mya Culiver had nine on Jan. 20, 2022 at ENMU. In the last four games, Huggins has brought down over five rebounds three times and she's scored in double figures the last two.

•    Freshman Taylor Haggan currently ranks sixth in the Lone Star Conference in scoring (16.0) and eighth in rebounding (7.7). She is also 7th in field goal percentage (50.0) and 15th in free throw percentage (76.0).

•    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. 

•    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.

•    Several Rattlers are closing in on career milestones or recently achieved one:

    Taylor Haggan: 4 points from 100

    Teanna Huggins: 18 points from 300; 17 assists from 100

    Michaela Kucera: 17 rebounds shy of 100; 20 points shy of 100

    Ariah Powell: 1 point shy 200 at StMU; 10 rebounds shy of 100

    Evelyn Quiroz: 13 rebounds shy 200

    Natalia Ryng: 300th rebound at WNMU, 11/30 (302); 8 defensive rebounds shy of 100

•    The 2023-24 season is the 46th for St. Mary's University. The Rattlers are 710-564 in 45+ years of play.

•    Head Coach Valerie Huizar was one of the featured coaches by the WBCA during October's Hispanic Heritage Month. 

•    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.