SAN ANTONIO — Quite possibly the biggest play of the game doesn't make a splash on the stats page, but with 1:03 remaining in the fourth quarter, the St. Mary's University Women's Basketball team forced a shot-clock violation on Oklahoma Baptist and made three of the final four free throws over the last 27 seconds to improve to 5-0 on the year with a 50-44 victory.
At the time of the defensive shutdown, the Rattlers held a three-point edge, 45-42, and they doubled that advantage to win by six, the largest margin of victory of the season and the largest lead of the game for the Gold & Blue. St. Mary's led for only 8:02 of the 40-minute contest, while the Bison (4-2) led for 23:08, and there were five lead changes and seven ties.
One night after tying the StMU Thanksgiving Classic single-game record with three blocked shots, sophomore
Raynne Malik (London, Ontario) responded with four more to break the record. She also led the game with 12 rebounds, nine on the defensive end of the floor.
Malik was tasked with guarding the Bison's Jaden Getman, the second-leading scorer in the nation, and took her duties seriously, holding Getman to eight points. It is the first time this season that she has scored fewer than 20 points in a game, and all eight points came in the second half.
Sophomore forward
Christin Callens (Houston) and senior guard
Aina Maynou (Cabrera de Mar, Spain) led the game with 13 points each, while both had six rebounds. Callens was 5-for-7 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free throw line, while Maynou hit a pair of three-pointers and added two steals.
Senior
Andrea Montesinos (Valencia, Spain) tied for game-high honors with four assists, and she knotted Maynou with two steals.
The two teams combined to attempt 63 three-pointers on the afternoon, making only 13, which contributed to the low-scoring affair. StMU was 4-for-25 (16%) from the arc, while OBU was 9-for-38 (23.7%).
St. Mary's won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding the Bison 43-to-37, though Oklahoma Baptist did pull down 12 on the offensive glass. Getman led the team with seven boards, while Parker Stevenson led in the scoring column with nine.
The 5-0 start for the Rattlers is one off the school record of six straight wins by the 1997-98 team.
St. Mary's remains at home, hosting Western New Mexico on Thursday, Dec. 4, in the Lone Star Conference opener for both clubs. The Mustangs dropped an 84-34 decision at Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday to fall to 0-6 on the year.
