Women's Basketball Travels South for Two

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
at Texas A&M International • Thursday, January 30 • 5:30 p.m.
St. Mary's (10-8, 6-6)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (65-71)
at Texas A&M International (5-14, 4-9)
Head Coach: Jaida Williams (134-141) 
Broadcast: FloCollege. 

at Texas A&M-Kingsville • Saturday, February 1 • 1 p.m.
St. Mary's (10-8, 6-6)
Head Coach: Valerie Huizar (65-71)
at Texas A&M-Kingsville (11-8, 7-6)
Head Coach: Michael Madrid (71-74) 
Broadcast: FloCollege. 

 

Second Turn: St. Mary's hits the road for the second swing through East Division play, facing Texas A&M International on Thursday evening before playing at Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday afternoon. The Rattlers defeated the Dustdevils in overtime, 76-71, earlier this month, while they dropped a close 50-46 decision to the Javelinas.

Series History with Texas A&M International: With the 76-71 win three weeks ago, the Rattlers now hold a 25-12 lead in the all-time series with the Dustdevils, though TAMIU has won the last three in Laredo to close within four, 11-7 in games played on the Texas A&M International campus.

Scouting the Dustdevils: Since falling to the Rattlers on Jan. 5, Texas A&M International is 3-3 on the year to move to 5-14 overall and 4-9 in Lone Star play. The Dustdevils have not had one player start all 19 games and 11 different players have started at least twice. Trinity Chears leads the team with 12.6 points per game, while Josie Igherighe averages 12.0 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds. Angelique Morgan ranks ninth in the LSC in both assists/game (3.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.94).

In the First Meeting (TAMIU): Five players scored in double figures as the Rattlers sank 9-of-10 at the free throw line in overtime to defeat Texas A&M International 76-71 on Jan. 5. Raynne Malik recorded the first double-double of her career, collecting 13 points and rebounds each. She scored six of her points in OT, hitting all four of her free throw tries, and blocked a shot with 2:10 left that led to a pair of free throws and the lead, which the Rattlers never relinquished. Quezia Bertoni (17), Andrea Montesinos (13), Tiara Louis (13) and Christin Callens (10) also hit double figures in the scoring column. St. Mary's out-rebounded the Dustdevils by 12, 48-to-36, and recorded 20 assists on 24 made baskets. 

Series History with Texas A&M-Kingsville: The Javelinas stretched their lead to three, 32-29 in the all-time series with a 50-46 win on Jan. 3. More than half of Texas A&M-Kingsville's victories are at home, as they lead 20-11 at the Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center, and they've won the last three at home against the Rattlers.

Scouting the Javelinas: Texas A&M-Kingsville is 1/2 game ahead of the Rattlers in the LSC standings with a 7-6 league mark, and they are 11-8 overall. They snapped a three-game losing skid with a 56-50 win over Sul Ross on Saturday and host St. Ed's on Thursday. Shelby Ray leads the team with 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, though she missed both games last week. Janessa Payne ranks sixth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, making 47.9 percent of her shots beyond the arc, while Abby Bala is second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.81 with 3.2 assists a night.

In the First Meeting (TAMUK): A furious comeback in the fourth quarter by the Rattlers fell just short as the team fell 50-46 to Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Rattlers scored 22 of their 46 points in the fourth quarter after starting the first stanza with only six points, spotting the Javelinas a 10-point advantage. Imani Ivery paced the comeback, scoring all 10 of her points in the final quarter, adding one of her two steals. Quezia Bertoni scored five of her nine in the last 10 minutes, and she tied for game-high honors with five assists and three steals. Christin Callens led the team with 12 points and nine rebounds as the Rattlers won the battle of the boards, 36-to-31. TAMUK guard Kaycee Groves led the game with 18 points, two blocked shots, and chipped in eight rebounds and three steals. Janessa Payne also scored in double figures with 11 points.

Twin Tower Split: The freshmen forward duo of Christin Callens and Raynne Malik account for 33.6 percent of the team's scoring this season. In the six home conference games, Callens leads the team with 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 53.6 percent. Malik averages 7.2 points and 8.5 rebounds, shooting only 30 percent. On the road, their positions flip, with Malik leading the team with 10.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and a 64.5 percent from the field, while Callens averages 6.7 points, 5.2 boards and shoots only 25.5 percent. 

It's An Honor: For the first time this season, a St. Mary's player earned Lone Star Conference Player of the Week honors as freshman forward Raynne Malik snagged the Defensive honors on Jan. 20. 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).

From Downtown: Sophomore Andrea Montesinos hit four three-pointers in each game last week, including back-to-back triples in overtime against Angelo State to help lift the Rattlers to the victory. Three times this season the Spaniard has hit four three-pointers in a game as she is now tied for the team lead with 17 on the year with Quezia Bertoni. Three others have connected on 10 or more triples, while two others have eight. The record for most players to make 10 or more is seven by the 2005-06 team.

Now Appearing: Freshman Raynne Malik has blocked 39 shots this season, jumping her one spot to ninth on the St. Mary's single-season records, passing Hannah Wilson, who swatted 37 as a junior in 2019-20. The Rattlers record for blocked shots by a freshman is 62 by Teri Mollett in 1979-80, which also ranks second all-time. Malik's 39 blocks are the freshman record in the school's Division II era (since 1999-00).

Scoring by the Half Dozen: Andrea Montesinos became the sixth different Rattler to lead the team in scoring as she scored 12 on Saturday against UT Permian Basin. Freshman Christin Callens has led the team 11 times and Quezia Bertoni has been atop the scoring column three times. Imani Ivery, Raynne Malik and Stina Svilberg have each led twice.

Rattler Numbers to Watch
• Freshman Christin Callens scored her 200th point and grabbed her 100th rebound in the win over Angelo State, becoming the ninth freshman in St. Mary's Division II history (2000-current) to score 200 in a year. She currently ranks eighth on the freshman list with 227 points.
• St. Mary's is a perfect 10-0 this season when shooting 40 percent or better for the game and 0-8 when connecting on less than 40 percent. 
• Raynne Malik currently leads the Lone Star and ranks 12th nationally with 2.29 blocks per game. Junior Imani Ivery also ranks 10th in the league with 0.81 swats per night.