Women's Basketball Hits the Road for Final Time in 2024

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
at #4 Lubbock Christian • Thursday, December 12 • 5:30 p.m.
St. Mary's (6-2, 2-0)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (61-65)
at #4 Lubbock Christian (9-1, 3-1)
Head Coach: Steve Gomez (514-140) 
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Chris Due

at Midwestern State • Sunday, December 15 • 2 p.m.
St. Mary's (6-2, 2-0)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (61-65)
at Midwestern State (2-7, 1-3)
Head Coach: Brenita Jackson (61-41)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Pete Stein

Wrapping Up 2024: St. Mary's hits the road for the final games of 2024, playing at No. 4 Lubbock Christian on Thursday at 5:30 and Midwestern State on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Rattlers also have an exhibition game at Tarleton State at 2 p.m. on Dec. 21 to conclude the 2024 calendar year.

Series History with Lubbock Christian: The Lady Chaps have dominated the series against St. Mary's, winning 21 of the 25 previous meetings, including all 12 in Lubbock. The Rattlers did snap a 12-game losing skid against Lubbock Christian last year, winning 49-47 in Bill Greehey Arena on Feb. 24, 2024.

Scouting the Lady Chaps: Lubbock Christian dropped its first game of the season last week at second-ranked Texas Woman's, 58-40. Senior forward Grace Foster leads the team with 20.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while Audrey     Robertson averages 13.0 points a night. The two have combined to hit more three-pointers than the entire Rattlers team (44-to-35). LCU is 9-1 overall and 3-1 in Lone Star play and have not faced any common opponents with StMU. 

Series History with Midwestern State: The Mustangs hold a 15-8 edge in the series with St. Mary's, though the teams have split the four games since the Rattlers joined the Lone Star Conference. The last three games have been decided by a total of 10 points and the last game at D.L. Ligon Coliseum was a double-overtime thriller won by MSU, 82-81. The Rattlers are 4-9 at Midwestern State since the series started in 1982.

Scouting the Mustangs: Midwestern State is 2-7 on the year and 0-3 in Lone Star play. Both teams have wins over UT Dallas, while StMU defeated Oklahoma Baptist, 64-59 and MSU fell 78-48 to the Bison. Three of the last four opponents for the Mustangs have been nationally-ranked in the WBCA poll. Zarria Carter leads the Mustangs with 19.8 points and 11.7 rebounds per game and she is the only player in the Lone Star Conference averaging a double-double. Kerbie Cash is also averaging double figures in scoring with 10.3 per contest.

Stingy Defense: Last week, St. Mary's held both opponents below 30 percent shooting, limiting Western New Mexico to 27.6 percent (16-58) on Thursday and Sul Ross State to 21.9 percent (14-64) on Saturday. On Thursday, the Rattlers held the Mustangs scoreless for 15:28 - including the entire second quarter. WNMU scored more points in the fourth quarter (28) than in the first three quarters combined (17).

What's Next: After the exhibition game at Tarleton State on Dec. 21, the Rattlers will take a break for the holidays, returning to competition on Jan. 3 against Texas A&M-Kingsville at 5:30 p.m.

Getting a Charge from Charges: Sophomore Andrea Montesinos has drawn 11 offensive fouls this season and has taken at least one charge in six of the eight games. No one else on the team has more than two charges, though the Rattlers have taken 21 through eight games, and nine players have drawn at least one.

Regionally Ranked: For the second straight week, the Rattlers are appearing in the D2CSC South Central Regional poll, moving up from a T10 to No. 7 this week with 23 points. TWU leads the region with 54 points, while LCU, UT Tyler, Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M round out the top five. Black Hills State is one point ahead of the Rattlers in sixth.

Block Party: St. Mary's broke the school's single-game record for blocked shots in a game with 12 against Sul Ross State on Saturday. Both freshman Raynne Malik and Lena Newby blocked three each, while six others had one swat in the lopsided victory. Malik has blocked three in four of the eight games this year, while Newby's three is a new career-high. The 4.63 blocked shots per game this season would break the school's single-season record of 4.50 per game from the 1999-2000 team.

C-C-ing Double: Freshman Christin Callens has scored in double figures in all eight games of her career, and currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference and 65th in the nation in scoring (17.0/game). She also leads the league in field goal percentage (56.5 percent), which ranks 26th among Division II players. 

Clean Basketball: The Rattlers are averaging only 15.5 fouls per game, which is the third-lowest average in the Lone Star and ranks 56th in the nation. Opponents are scoring only 8.25 points per game from the charity stripe.

Room to Board: Through the first eight games, five different Rattlers have either led the team or tied for the team lead in rebounds at least once. Freshman Christin Callens took over the lead after grabbing a team-high in both games last week and has now led four times, while Imani Ivery has come off the bench three times to lead the team.  Andrea Montesinos and freshman Raynne Malik have each led twice and junior Sian Phipps has led once. The Rattlers currently rank second in the Lone Star Conference and 26th nationally with a +9.0 rebound margin and are averaging 41.25 rebounds per game.

It's Raynne-ing Blocks: Freshman Raynne Malik has made her presence felt underneath the basket early in her career. The Ontario forward has three or more rebounds in all eight games and has blocked 15 shots already, altering three each in four of the last six games. Malik leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 26th nationally with 1.88 blocks per game.