Women's Basketball Opens LSC Play at Home

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
ALUMNI NIGHT • Western New Mexico • Thursday, December 5 • 5:30 p.m.
Western New Mexico (0-4, 0-1)
Head Coach: Brenda Nichols (170-303) 
at St. Mary's (4-2)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (59-65)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Dan Hawkins

JINGLE MART GAME • Sul Ross State • Saturday, December 7 • 1 p.m.
Sul Ross State (2-2, 1-0)
Head Coach: E.J. Lee Smith (25-33)
at St. Mary's (4-2)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (59-65)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow

Conference Openers: St. Mary's remains home to begin Lone Star Conference play with Western New Mexico on Thursday night for Alumni Night and Sul Ross State on Saturday for the annual JingleMart game. Alumni can register to attend the event at: https://alumni.stmarytx.edu/events/alumni-athletics-night-basketball/. On Saturday, bring an unwrapped gift or giftcard to be donated for Kinship Families. Learn more at https://alliance4orphans.org/jinglemart/.

Series History with Western New Mexico: The Rattlers hold a 5-3 lead in the all-time series with the Mustangs, though WNMU edged the Rattlers 62-59 last season in Silver City. Two of the last four meetings have gone to overtime between the clubs and StMU has won two straight at home.

Scouting the Mustangs: Western New Mexico is still searching for its first win in 2024-25, entering Thursday's contest with an 0-4 overall record and a 0-1 mark in league action. The Mustangs haven't played since Nov. 23 at Sul Ross State, an 83-65 win for the Lobos. Jade Goynes leads the team with 17.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and she and Alina Martin are each averaging 1.75 assists a contest. Natalie Magallnes has a team-best six steals and no player has more than three three-pointers on the season. 

Series History with Sul Ross State: After not facing the Lobos since 1994, this will be the second meeting in a month. The Rattlers won a 74-68 decision back on Nov. 15 in Alpine in a non-conference tilt, giving StMU the 4-3 advantage in the all-time series. The two teams played once a year for four years straight, beginning in 1986 with two home games for each squad. The Rattlers have now won three straight in the series with a pair of neutral site victories in 1992 and 1994.

Scouting the Lobos: Sul Ross State is 2-2 on the year after dropping an 80-61 decision at McMurry on Monday evening. TaMaiya Mims leads the team with 13.3 points per game, while Melody Martinez is right behind her with 13.0 points and a team-best 6.3 rebounds a night. Mims also leads the way with 3.33 steals per game and she and Cheyanne Bonilla are averaging a team-high 4.0 assists per contest. The Lobos have grabbed exactly 35 rebounds in each of the three games for which there are statistics (no Northern New Mexico) and the team has yet to block a shot this season.

What's Next: The Rattlers close out the 2024 calendar year with a tough trip to #4 Lubbock Christian on Thursday and Midwestern State on Saturday. The team will also play at Tarleton State on Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. in an exhibition contest for the Rattlers. It is the team's third and final exhibition of the year.

Five Nations Party: In the last two games, the starting five for the Rattlers looks like a United Nations meeting with five different countries represented. Quezia Bertoni hails from Brazil, Christin Callens represents the United States, Brooke Kleinig is from Australia, Raynne Malik is Canadian and Andrea Montesinos came from Spain. 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.

The I's Have It: Junior Imani Ivery has given the Rattlers a huge spark off the bench this season, scoring in double figures in each of the last three, and leading the team with nine rebounds in the win over Oklahoma Baptist. For the season, Ivery is averaging 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while shooting .517 from the field with 2.5 assists and a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.

C-C-ing Double: Freshman Christin Callens has scored in double figures in all six games of her career, and currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference and 29th in the nation in scoring (18.7/game). She also leads the league in field goal percentage (56.6 percent), which ranks 39th among Division II players. Callens is the only freshman to rank in the top 50 in the country in scoring and one of three to rank in field goal percentage. 

Clean Basketball: The Rattlers are averaging only 14.2 fouls per game, which is the third-lowest average in the Lone Star and ranks 26th in the nation. Opponents are scoring only eight points per game from the charity stripe.

Room to Board: Through the first six games, five different Rattlers have either led the team or tied for the team lead in rebounds at least once. Imani Ivery has come off the bench three times to lead the team, while sophomore Andrea Montesinos and freshmen Christin Callens and Raynne Malik have each led twice and junior Sian Phipps has led once. The Rattlers currently rank fourth in the Lone Star Conference with a +5.8 rebound margin and are averaging 38.33 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 six games and has blocked 11 shots already, altering three each in three of the last four games. Malik is second in the Lone Star Conference with 11 blocks and third in blocks per game at 1.83.

Conference Call: St. Mary's is one of the last teams to begin Lone Star play as 13 of the 16 teams have already played at least once. Cameron and Oklahoma Christian are the other two without a league game.