This Week in Rattlers Basketball
StMU Thanksgiving Classic
Texas A&M-Kingsville vs Oklahoma Baptist • Friday, November 29 • 4 p.m.
Shippensburg • Friday, November 29 • 6 p.m.
Shippensburg (1-4)
Head Coach: Kristy Trn (410-284)Â
at St. Mary's (3-1)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (58-64)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Dan Hawkins
Texas A&M-Kingsville vs Shippensburg • Friday, November 30 • 2 p.m.
Oklahoma Baptist • Saturday, November 30 • 4 p.m.
Oklahoma Baptist (3-1)
Head Coach: Bo Overton (72-109)Â
at St. Mary's (3-1)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (58-64)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Dan Hawkins
On Tap This Week: The Rattlers open the home portion of the season with the ninth annual StMU Thanksgiving Classic, hosted in Bill Greehey Arena. Three of the four teams are the same as the 2023-24 season, as Oklahoma Baptist and Texas A&M-Kingsville make return trips to the tournament. Shippensburg will play in the tournament, and in Bill Greehey Arena, for the first time.
Scouting the Raiders: This will be the first-ever meeting between Shippensburg and St. Mary's. The Raiders are 1-4 on the year and they've lost three straight including the first two PSAC games of the season. Shippensburg plays out of the state of Pennsylvania only three times all season and these will be two of them. No Raider is averaging in double figures in scoring, though Mia Johnson and Bella Chimienti are close with 9.8 and 9.2, respectively. Abbie Miller leads the club with 6.0 rebounds per game, while Taja Colbert leads with 2.6 assists a contest.
Series History with Oklahoma Baptist: Saturday will be the fourth meeting between the Rattlers and Oklahoma Baptist and all four have taken place inside Bill Greehey Arena. StMU holds a 2-1 edge in the series, though the Bison won 67-56 last season during the Thanksgiving Tournament.
Scouting the Bison: Oklahoma Baptist enters the tournament on a three-game winning streak and they also have a win over UT Dallas, 80-70 in Shawnee. Mackenzie Crusoe leads the Bison with 18.3 points, while Sierra Copeland is averaging a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game. Crusoe also leads with 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals per contest.Â
What's Next: The Rattlers begin Lone Star Conference play, hosting Western New Mexico on Thursday evening and Sul Ross State on Saturday afternoon. The four game home stretch ties for the longest of the season, as the Rattlers will also host four straight in mid-February.
Quick Look Back: St. Mary's once again made its presence felt in the paint, scoring 42 of its 69 points there in the 69-65 victory over UT Dallas on Wednesday to win its third-straight. For the fourth straight time in her short career, freshman Christin Callens established a new career-high in scoring, leading the game with 24 points. Callens was 9-for-17 from the field and hit 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Callens also tied teammates Andrea Montesinos and Imani Ivery in the rebounds category with eight each. Ivery also led the team with four assists. Raynne Malik was a force underneath the Comets' basket, blocking three shots. She has at least one swat in all four contests and three each in the last two.
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, 22 in the win at Sul Ross State and 24 at UT Dallas. She ranks third in the Lone Star Conference and 24th in the nation in scoring with 19.8 points per game and she leads the league in field goal percentage, shooting 58.5 percent, which is 35th in the country. She is the highest-scoring freshman in all of Division II and fourth among freshman at all three Divisions.
Making It Raynne: Freshman Raynne Malik has made her presence felt underneath the basket early in her career. The Ontario forward has six or more rebounds in all four games and has blocked eight shots already, altering three in each of the last two contests. Malik is tied for the Lone Star Conference lead with 2.0 blocks per game, knotted with Keniah Williams from Angelo State.
Smart Shooting: St. Mary's currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star statistics, shooting 44.2 percent from the field. The team is only 1.5 percent off the lead by Texas A&M-Kingsville at 45.7 percent. Freshman Christin Callens leads the league, shooting 58.5 percent.
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.
Off on the Right Foot: The Rattlers are 3-1, 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.
