Women's Basketball Begins 2024 on the Road

Thursday, January 4 • at Texas A&M Kingsville • 5:30 p.m.
St. Mary's (2-8, 2-2)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (51-49)
at Texas A&M Kingsville (4-8, 0-5)
Head Coach: Michael Madrid (51-58)
Arena: Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center

Saturday, January 6 • at Texas A&M International • 1 p.m.
St. Mary's (2-8, 2-2)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (51-49)
at #25 Texas A&M International (11-2, 3-2)
Head Coach: Nate Vogel (65-52)
Arena: TAMIU Kinesiology & Convocation Building

Opening Tip

•    After a 16-day break for the holiday season, the St. Mary's Women's Basketball team returns to action with an important Lone Star Conference trip. The Rattlers return to LSC play at Texas A&M Kingsville on Thursday before facing No. 25 Texas A&M International on Saturday afternoon.

•    The Rattlers are 2-2 in Lone Star Conference play and are looking to snap a three-game losing streak at the Javelinas, who are 0-5 in conference action and 4-8 overall. Despite not playing TAMUK yet this season, the Rattlers did host the Javelinas in the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic, where TAMUK won both games en route to the tournament title.

•    Texas A&M International is the fourth team this season the Rattlers have faced that are either receiving votes or ranked in the WBCA national poll. StMU has also played Regis (RV), then-#12 Missouri Western State and then-#16 Montana State-Billings. The Rattlers also dropped the season opener to Colorado School of Mines, which was not ranked at the time, but is currently #9 in the country.

•    St. Mary's is 28-30 all-time against Texas A&M Kingsville and has lost the last three in the series, while they are 24-10 all-time over Texas A&M International but have dropped the last four against the Dustdevils.

•    The Dustdevils returned to the national rankings this week after falling out of the top-25 on Dec. 18. This is only the second week in the history of TAMIU athletics the women's basketball team has appeared in the top-25 of the WBCA poll.

•    Senior Ariah Powell scored a career-high 23 points in the team's 65-61 loss to #16 Montana State-Billings at the Daytona Beach Shootout. Powell was a perfect 7-for-7 at the free throw line and added six rebounds and two steals to her stats line.

•    The four freshmen on the team are responsible for 46.2 percent (276 points) of the team's scoring this season, while the six in the senior class are scoring another 43.0 percent (257 points). 

•    Freshman Vani Sancho became the seventh different Rattler to score in double digits this season when she tallied a career-high 11 points -- all in the first half -- against West Texas A&M. The 11 points more than doubled her previous career-high of five.

•    St. Mary's ranks second in the Lone Star Conference, and 49th in the nation, in three-point field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to connect on just 26.3 percent from deep. 

•    St. Mary's erased an 18-point deficit early in the third quarter (8:55) against Midwestern State before the break for finals, scoring 50 of its 70 points in the paint for the second-straight win. 

•    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.

•    Freshman Taylor Haggan currently ranks fifth in the Lone Star Conference in scoring, averaging 16.2 points per game. She is also ninth in rebounds, averaging 7.3 a contest.

•    Taylor Haggan has scored 20 or more points three times already this season, which is tied for the third-most 20-point games by a freshman in the school's Division II history. Erin Griffin did so seven times in 2000-01, while Soteria Banks accomplished the feat five times in 2017-18 and Briley Perkins did so three times in 2019-20.

•    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.

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

    Teanna Huggins: 4 assists from 100

    Michaela Kucera: 14 rebounds shy of 100; 20 points shy of 100

    Ariah Powell: 17 points shy of 300; 11 rebounds shy of 100 at StMU

    Evelyn Quiroz: 13 rebounds shy 200

    Natalia Ryng: 5 points shy of 350

•    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 7-44 since joining the Division II ranks against nationally-ranked foes. The Rattlers dropped a close 65-61 decision against #16 Montana State-Billings in Daytona and take on #25 Texas A&M International this 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. 

•    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.