This Week in Rattlers Basketball
at UT Dallas • Wednesday, November 20 • 5:30 p.m.
St. Mary's (2-1)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (57-64)
at UT Dallas (2-2)
Head Coach: Joe Shotland (41-18)
Next Up: St. Mary's remains out on the road, playing at future Lone Star Conference foe UT Dallas on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
Scouting The Comets: UT Dallas is off to a 2-2 start to the 2024-25 season. The Comets lost the first two games of the year, but bounced back to go 2-0 at the SCIAC Classic in California. UTD is in its first season of transition to Division II and playing a mix of Division II and Division III foes this season as an independent. Anna Yellen leads the team with 13.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, and half of her field goals made are triples. Alex Bowman is the only player to start in all four games and is averaging 11.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
What's Next: The Rattlers step out of regular season competition to play in an exhibition game at UTRGV on Monday, Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. Last season, the Gold and Blue won a 70-64 contest in Edinburg. The game is a counting contest for the Vaqueros.
Quick Look Back: St. Mary's is 2-1 on the season, winning back-to-back games against Regis (69-68) and Sul Ross State (74-68). Against the Lobos, Christin Callens led the game with a career-high 22 points, while fellow freshman Raynne Malik grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots. The Rattlers fought back after trailing by 10 at the end of the first quarter to win by six.
Connections: UT Dallas senior Allana Thompson played last season at UAFS, where she scored a season-best 10 points against the Rattlers on Feb. 17. She added a block and three steals in the game. Olivia Pedigo played two seasons at Angelo State. She played four minutes last season against the Rattlers, missing all three of her shots. UTD freshman Emery Espinoza is from San Antonio, where she played at East Central HS.Â
Trending Upwards: Freshman Christin Callens has increased her scoring output in each game this season, scoring 14 in the opener against Colorado School of Mines, followed by 19 in the win over Regis and 22 in the win at Sul Ross State. She ranks third in the Lone Star Conference and 47th in the nation in scoring with 18.3 points per game and she leads the league in field goal percentage, shooting 61.1 percent, which is 37th in the country. Her 18.3 points is the second-highest average for any freshmen in Division II, trailing only Claire Bjorge from Minnesota-Duluth at 18.5 ppg.
Strong with the Ball: The Rattlers have had their shot blocked only once in the first three games of the season, while on the flip side they've swatted seven, including five by freshman Raynne Malik. Malik currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference with 1.67 blocks per game.
Smart Shooting: St. Mary's currently ranks fifth in the Lone Star statistics, shooting 44.1 percent from the field. The team is only 2.7 percent off the lead by UT Permian Basin at 46.8 percent. Freshman Christin Callens leads the league, shooting 61.1 percent.
The I's Have It: Junior transfer Imani Ivery made a big impact in her first game with the Rattlers after missing the first two games of the season. Ivery scored eight points, grabbed three rebounds, blocked a shot and dished out an assist in only 11 minutes of work at Sul Ross State. Ivery was 3-for-5 from the field and hit her only three-point attempt.
Road Warriors: St. Mary's opens the season with its first five games on the road. It is the longest stretch in Coach Valerie Huizar's tenure. The Rattlers begin the home season with the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 29, kicking off a four-game home stretch against Shippensburg.
Preseason Poll: With a bushel full of new players, the personnel in the Lone Star Conference who vote on the preseason polls were unsure what to make of the St. Mary's University Women's Basketball team, predicting them to finish 13th in the 2024-25 race. Texas Woman's, the reigning LSC Tournament and season champion, has been selected to repeat this season.
Heating Up: Lone senior Stina Svilberg ended the 2023-24 campaign on a hot streak, scoring in double figures in each of the last five games, including a career-best 18 in the team's 68-63 win over St. Edward's to end the year. In those five games, she raised her scoring average 1.5 points per game to 6.9 and her rebounds per game up to 4.0 per contest after bringing down at least five in all five games. She's continued the trend, scoring in double figures twice, averaging 12.0 points with 3.0 rebounds per game this season. She's shooting .619 from the field and has missed only two shots from inside the arc through the first two games.
Off on the Right Foot: The Rattlers are 2-1, already winning more non-conference games than last season. All six wins for the 2023-24 team came against Lone Star Conference foes in league action.Â
Third Time's The Charm?: Valerie Huizar begins her third season as the Head Coach of the Rattlers, and is looking to make some waves in the always-tough Lone Star Conference. She brought 11 newcomers to the team, with six freshmen, three Division I transfers and two JUCO transfers.
International Flavor: The 14 players on the 2024-25 roster represent six different countries in Australia (2), Brazil, Canada, Estonia, Spain (2), and the United States (6) and all six from the US hail from Texas.
A Quick Look at the Schedule: With 16 teams in the Lone Star Conference, the league will 22-game schedule, where teams play each team in their division twice and the teams in the other division once. The Rattlers are in the East Division with Cameron, Oklahoma Christian, St. Edward's, Texas A&M International, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas Woman's and UT Tyler. The top eight teams will qualify for the LSC Tournament, happening March 5-8 in Frisco, Texas. Division winners will automatically qualify for the tournament but are not guaranteed a top two seed.
