Women's Basketball Will Wrap Up Season With St. Edward's, Twice

Tuesday, Feb. 21
St. Mary's (7-19, 3-17) at St. Edward's (13-15, 9-11) • 5:30 p.m. 
Thursday, Feb. 23
St. Edward's at St. Mary's • 5:30 p.m.

Opening Tip

•    St. Mary's concludes the 2022-23 season by playing rival St. Edward's twice this week. The Rattlers travel to Austin on Tuesday, while the Hilltoppers come to San Antonio on Thursday for Senior Night. The team will honor Tonia Bilic, Bella Hughes and Briley Perkins for their efforts on the court.

•    The Rattlers own a 61-30 advantage in the all-time series against the Hilltoppers. The team is 33-11 at home and 27-18 in Austin in a series that dates all the way back to 1979-80, the third year of the sport at StMU. 

•    Twelve of the Rattlers 26 games this season have been decided by five or fewer points and the Rattlers are 4-8 in those contests.

•    Senior Tonia Bilic is seven points shy of 400 for her career, while freshman Gabby Elliott needs seven rebounds for 200. Junior Teanna Huggins is only six points away from 200 this year and with nine rebounds senior Briley Perkins will hit 150 in her career. Junior Ariah Powell is seven points away from career 200 and senior Natalia Ryng needs 15 for 300.

•    The Rattlers have held seven straight opponents to 60 or fewer points and now rank seventh in the LSC statistics with 61.4 opponent points per game. 

•    The three wins in Lone Star Conference play surpasses last season's total of two and the Rattlers have two games remaining on the docket.

 •    Gabby Elliott remains the top-scoring freshman in the Lone Star Conference, ranking 11th overall with 13.2 points per game and eighth in league-only tilts with an average of 14.4 per game. The true freshman also ranks 8th with 7.7 rebounds/game in conference play and 10th with 7.4 against all opponents, which ranks second.

•    Seniors Kayla Braxton-Young and Natalia Ryng have chosen to take their "Covid" seasons and will return next year for their fifth campaigns.

•    Freshman Gabby Elliott has scored 343 points this season and is 22 points shy of tying the St. Mary's (DII) record for points by a freshman. Erin Griffin established the mark in the team's first year of Division II, scoring 365 points in 2000-01. Elliott is one of only four Rattlers to score over 300 points as a first-year student, joining Griffin (365), Soteria Banks (360, 2017-18) and Jackie Woods (325, 2011-12).