Women's Hoops Starts New Year With East Division Play

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
Texas A&M-Kingsville • Friday, January 3 • 5:30 p.m.
Texas A&M-Kingsville (6-5, 2-3)
Head Coach: Michael Madrid (67-71) 
at St. Mary's (6-4, 2-2)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (61-67)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Dan Hawkins

Texas A&M International • Sunday, January 5 • 3 p.m.
Texas A&M International (1-10, 0-5)
Head Coach: Jaida Williams (130-137) 
at St. Mary's (6-4, 2-2)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (61-67)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Dan Hawkins
 

Kicking Off 2025: St. Mary's opens 2025 with a pair of home games in Lone Star Conference play. The Rattlers host Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday evening and Texas A&M International on Sunday afternoon. Both games can be seen on FloCollege with Dan Hawkins calling the play-by-play. In addition to being Lone Star games, the three teams are also all in the East Division. These will be the first divisional games of the year for the Rattlers, while TAMUK defeated TAMIU in the only contest for both teams.

Series History with Texas A&M-Kingsville: The Javelinas hold a slight 31-29 edge in the all-time series with St. Mary's, though the Rattlers won the last meeting, 62-54, in February. StMU is 18-11 at home in the series and the two teams are tied 5-5 since the Rattlers joined the Lone Star Conference. 

Scouting the Javelinas: Texas A&M-Kingsville flipped its results from the Rattlers in the StMU Thanksgiving Classic, falling to Oklahoma Baptist and defeating Shippensburg. TAMUK is 6-5 on the season and 2-3 in LSC play and hasn't played any of the same league foes as the Rattlers. Shelby Ray leads the team with 12.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and has scored in double figures in eight straight games. Abby Bala and Aina Maynou are tied for the team lead with 3.3 assists per game and Janessa Payne is the biggest threat beyond the arc, draining 2.4 per game.

Series History with Texas A&M International: St. Mary's has won twice as many games in the series as the DustDevils, 24-12, however TAMIU has won the last six in the series. The last win for the Rattlers was a lopsided 90-47 decision on Feb. 8, 2020 at Bill Greehey Arena, where they hold a 13-5 lead in the 18 meetings.

Scouting the Dustdevils: Texas A&M International has struggled this season with a 1-10 record, and the lone win coming in the last game of 2024, a 113-29 blowout of College of Biblical Studies. The Dustdevils are 0-5 in Lone Star action, though they haven't faced any common opponents with the Rattlers. Josie Igherighe paces the team with 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds a contest. Trinity Chears also averages 11.2 points a night. Angelique Morgan dishes out 3.1 assists a contest and six players already have double digit steals on the year.

A Win Would...: Snap a two-game losing skid for the Rattlers... Be the second-straight against Texas A&M-Kingsville... Be the first in East Division play... Improve the Rattlers to 4-1 at home in 2024-25... Pass the 2023-24 team for wins as they were 6-22... Be the first win to start a new calendar year since 2018-19 (71-57, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Jan. 2, 2019)... Be the 30th all-time against TAMUK, giving the Rattlers 30 wins against six different teams (Huston-Tillotson, Incarnate Word, Oklahoma Panhandle State, St. Edward's, Texas Lutheran).

Getting a Charge from Charges: Sophomore Andrea Montesinos has drawn 13 offensive fouls this season and has taken at least one charge in eight of the 10 games. No one else on the team has more than two charges, though the Rattlers have taken 25 through 10 games, and 10 players have drawn at least one.

Bench Scoring: In seven of the 10 games this season, the Rattlers bench has scored more points than the opposition. StMU has also had three games this year with the bench scoring 30 or more points (32 at Sul Ross State; 36 vs Western New Mexico; 32 vs Sul Ross State).

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 Dec. 7. Both freshman Raynne Malik and Lena Newby blocked three each, while six others had one swat in the lopsided victory. The 4.70 blocked shots per game this season would break the school's single season record of 4.50 per game from the 1999-2000 team.

Raynne Around the Block: 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 10 games and has blocked 19 shots already, altering eight in the last three games. Malik leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 16th nationally with 2.11 blocks per game.

Room to Board: Through the first 10 games, five different Rattlers have either led the team or tied for the team lead in rebounds at least once. Freshman Christin Callens has led four times, while Imani Ivery, Raynee Malik and Andrea Montesinos have led three times each. Junior Sian Phipps has led once. The Rattlers currently rank third in the Lone Star Conference and 47th nationally with a +6.3 rebound margin and are averaging 39.30 rebounds per game.

Playing the Percentages: Freshman Christin Callens currently ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 47th in Division II shooting 51.9 percent from the field. Callens trails only Zarria Carter from Midwestern State, who is connecting at a 52.7 rate. Callens is the top freshman in the nation in that category and one of only four freshmen in the top 100.

Helping Hands: St. Mary's has recorded double digit assists in eight of the 10 games this season and snapped a seven-game streak at #7 Lubbock Christian on Dec. 12. The seven-game streak ties for the second-longest in the Valerie Huizar era, only one game behind the longest streak of eight the 2023-24 team had to start the year.