Women's Basketball Returns Home for Pair

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
Angelo State • Thursday, January 23 • 5:30 p.m.
Angelo State (13-4, 9-2)
Head Coach: Alesha Ellis (263-88) 
at St. Mary's (9-7, 5-5)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (64-70)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Dan Hawkins

UT Permian Basin • Saturday, January 25 • 1 p.m.
UT Permian Basin (9-8, 7-4)
Head Coach: Rae Boothe (82-125) 
at St. Mary's (9-7, 5-5)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (64-70)
Broadcast: FloCollege. Play-by-Play: Dan Hawkins

Home Sweet Home: St. Mary's returns home after four straight on the road to host Angelo State on Thursday evening and UT Permian Basin on Saturday afternoon. The Rattlers are 4-2 at home this season and 3-1 in LSC action inside Bill Greehey Arena.

Series History with Angelo State: The Rambelles hold a 34-24 advantage in the all-time series with St. Mary's and has won the last four games in the series, including a 56-55 decision on Jan. 29, 2023 in the teams last game in San Antonio. Since joining the Lone Star, the Rattlers have only one win against Angelo State, a 69-52 decision on Jan. 23, 2021, and are 1-6.

Scouting the Rambelles: Angelo State sits in fourth place in the Lone Star Conference standings with a 9-2 league record and a 13-4 overall mark. A quartet of Rambelles average in double figures in scoring, led by Majik Esquivel with 13.2 per game. Madeline Stephens averages just short of a double-double with 12.9 points and 9.9 rebounds a night and Addy Burns comes off the bench to lead the team with 2.9 assists. Keniah Williams ranks third in the LSC stats with 1.82 blocks and she and Stephens each have six double-doubles on the year.

Series History with UT Permian Basin: The Rattlers hold a 20-11 lead in the series over the Falcons, but have dropped the last four games. Eleven of the 20 wins have come in Bill Greehey Arena, though UTPB has won two straight. The series dates back to 2007 when the Falcons joined the Heartland Conference, and the teams have played at least once every season since.

Scouting the Falcons: UT Permian Basin is 9-8 overall, 7-4 in Lone Star Conference play, and has dropped the last three games. The Falcons play at St. Edward's before facing the Rattlers. Taysha Rushton leads the team and ranks third in the LSC in scoring with 15.8 per game, and is the only Falcon scoring in double digits. Khiara Flugence leads the way with 7.7 rebounds a night and Avalon Munoz is third in the league with 3.9 assists and second in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.89.

It's An Honor: For the first time this season, a St. Mary's player has earned Lone Star Conference Player of the Week honors as freshman forward Raynne Malik snagged the Defensive honors. Malik posted a pair of double-doubles with 15 points and 10 rebounds in each of the wins over Cameron and Oklahoma Christian. She also swatted nine shots, blocking four against the Aggies and a career-best five over the Eagles. Malik also shot 70.6 percent from the field, missing only one shot inside the arc (11-12).

Crashing the Boards: St. Mary's has either out-rebounded or tied on the glass in all but one Lone Star Conference game (at Lubbock Christian) and now ranks second in the conference in rebound margin (+6.5). The Rattlers currently rank 41st in the nation in rebounding margin and 49th in defensive rebounds per game with 28.1. 

Now Appearing: Freshman Raynne Malik has blocked 33 shots this season, which ranks 10th in St. Mary's single-season history. She passes Paola Vasquez (1997-98), Ashton Benford (2006-07) and Morgan Pullins (2013-14) who all blocked 34. Vasquez owns the single-season record at 67 from 1999-00.

Freshman Phenoms: In each of the last five games, one of the St. Mary's freshman forwards has recorded double digits in rebounds, with Raynne Malik doing so four times and Christin Callens posting a career-high 10 at UT Tyler. The pair are combining to average 13.3 boards per game, and 14.1 per contest against LSC foes.

A Helping Hand: Junior guard Quezia Bertoni has recorded at least one assist in the last seven games, and four times during that stretch she's collected five in a game. Over the last seven, Bertoni is averaging 3.71 assists per game, with only 2.4 turnovers per game for a 1.59 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Rattler Numbers to Watch
• Freshman Christin Callens needs only two points for 200 in her first season. She'll become the ninth freshman in St. Mary's Division II history (2000-current) to score 200 in a year. Callens also needs five rebounds for 100.
• Senior Stina Svilberg is two rebounds away from 150 in her StMU career. Svilberg has averaged 3.4 rebounds in her 44 games with the Rattlers.
• St. Mary's is a perfect 9-0 this season when shooting 40 percent or better for the game and 0-7 when connecting on less than 40 percent. 

In the Record Books: The 67 combined points at UT Tyler (31-37) are the fewest points scored in St. Mary's Women's Basketball history, breaking the previous record of 75 (27-48) at Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 24, 1978. The old mark for a Division II contest was 78 (40-38) at Newman on Jan. 28, 2010. Four times this season the Rattlers have scored more than the two teams managed on Saturday.

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.