Thursday, February 22 • West Texas A&M • 5:30 p.m.
West Texas A&M (16-10, 11-7)
Head Coach: Josh Prock (272-162)
at St. Mary's (4-20, 4-14)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (53-61)
Arena: Bill Greehey Arena
Saturday, February 24 • Lubbock Christian • 1 p.m. (Senior Day)
Lubbock Christian (18-7, 13-5)
Head Coach: Steve Gomez (502-136)
at St. Mary's (4-20, 4-14)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (53-61)
Arena: Bill Greehey Arena
Opening Tip
• The St. Mary's Women's Basketball team finally returns to Bill Greehey Arena after being on the road for two straight weeks and four games. The Rattlers host West Texas A&M on Thursday and Lubbock Christian for Senior Day on Saturday.
• The Rattlers will be honoring six seniors before the game Saturday in Reyelle Frazier, Teanna Huggins, Michaela Kucera, Ariah Powell, Alexis Robinson and Natalia Ryng.
• St. Mary's will face West Texas A&M for the second time this season and the 12th time in history on Thursday. The Lady Buffs hold a commanding 10-1 lead in the series, though the last game in San Antonio was a victory for the Rattlers, 57-58 in 2022.
• In the first game, the Lady Buffs made all eight of their free throw attempts over the final 2:24 to defeat the Rattlers, 61-52 at the Daytona Beach Shootout in December. Vani Sancho scored a then-career-high 11 points, while Taylor Haggan had 15 points and eight rebounds. Natalia Ryng led with nine rebounds and Teanna Huggins had 10 points, two assists and two steals.
• Saturday will be the first game of the season against Lubbock Christian. The Lady Chaps own a 21-3 lead in the all-time series and are currently on a 12-game winning streak against the Rattlers.
• The Rattlers have made a marked improvement from last season at the free throw line. A year ago, StMU shot just .652 at the charity stripe (337-517), ranking 250th out of 294 teams. This year the Rattlers are making .721 of their free throw attempts (269-373), an increase of 6.9 percent and a jump to 117th in the country out of 291 teams.
• Freshman Taylor Haggan scored the 300th point of her career at TWU, becoming the fifth freshman in the school's Division II history to score 300 points in their first season. The record for points by a freshman is held by both Erin Griffin (2000-01) and Gabby Elliott (2022-23). Haggan is 36 shy of tying the mark of 365 with four games remaining.
• Freshman Vani Sancho started the first game of her career on Saturday at UAFS. The Rattlers had three freshmen, one junior and one senior in the starting lineup. It was the fifth different combination to start a game this season and the first time three freshmen were on the floor at tip. Only Taylor Haggan started all 24 games this season.
• The four freshmen on the team are responsible for 45.7 percent (630 points) of the team's scoring this season, while the six in the senior class are scoring another 39.1 percent (539 points).
• Several Rattlers are closing in on career milestones or recently achieved one:
Reyelle Frazier: 8 rebounds from 100
Taylor Haggan: 30 rebounds from 200
Teanna Huggins: 400th point at OC (407); 13 assists shy of 150
Michaela Kucera: 8 rebounds shy of 100; 7 points shy of 100
Ariah Powell: 7 points shy of 400; 2 assists shy of 100
Ramsey Robledo: 10 rebounds shy of 100
Natalia Ryng: 9 points shy of 400; 31 rebounds shy of 400
Stina Svilberg: 13 rebounds shy 100
• For the first time since Dec. 8, 2018, the Rattlers had two players hit the 20-point scoring milestone in the same game when both Taylor Haggan and Ariah Powell tallied 21 at Angelo State on Jan. 25. The last contest was also against Angelo State as Kaitlin Walla scored 23 and Soteria Banks scored 20 in a 70-64 win.
• Taylor Haggan has scored 20 or more points six times this season, which is the second-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.
• Senior Teanna Huggins ranks 12th in the Lone Star Conference averaging 3.1 assists per game. Seven times this year she's recorded five or more assists in a game.
• Freshman Taylor Haggan currently ranks 14th in the Lone Star Conference in scoring, averaging 13.7 points per game, which is good for second among freshmen. She is also 10th in rebounds, averaging 7.1 a contest and eighth in field goal percentage, shooting 46.6%.
• 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.
• The Rattlers beat a Division I foe in an exhibition game for the second-straight year, winning 70-64 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.
• The Rattlers are now 7-47 since joining the Division II ranks against nationally-ranked foes. The last win against a team in the top-25 came on Nov. 23, 2018 against #1 Central Missouri in double overtime, 101-97.
