SAN ANTONIO — A slow start for the St. Mary's University Women's Basketball team proved costly as the team's comeback fell short on Saturday against Cameron, 68-62.
The Rattlers (11-13, 7-11) trailed by 16 midway through the third quarter but cut the deficit to two, 57-55 with 4:13 remaining. However, they were unable to get any closer, and the Aggies (5-18, 3-16) made all four free throws in the final five seconds to ice the Gold and Blue.
Freshman forward
Christin Callens (Houston) continued her strong play, scoring a team-best 22 points, while fellow freshman
Raynne Malik (London, Ontario) added her fourth double-double of the year with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Junior guard
Imani Ivery (Houston) added seven points, seven boards, five assists and four steals.
The five starters for the Aggies scored all 68 points, led by Shamica Smith's 24. She also tied for team-high honors, grabbing six boards and knotting Kennedy Cummings, who led the game with eight assists.
Cameron scored the first six points of the game before Imani drained a triple to cut the deficit in half. The two teams went back-and-forth through the remainder of the period until junior
Sian Phipps (Houston) hit a layup with two seconds left for the 19-18 score.
With the score 21-20 with 9:06 to play in the second quarter, the Aggies utilized an 11-2 scoring run to take a 32-22 lead with 4:55 left in the half, leading by nine at the break.
The Aggies outscored the Rattlers by one in the third period, 15-14 for the 53-43 lead. StMU scored seven of the first nine of the final stanza to cut the Aggie lead to five, 55-50 with 6:21 to go and trimmed it to a one-possession game on a Callens layup at 4:13.
The Rattlers play three of their final four regular season games on the road, beginning at West Texas A&M on Thursday, Feb. 20. The Lady Buffs defeated Western New Mexico 78-55 on Saturday afternoon.
