CANYON, Texas — For the first time since the series began in 2002, the St. Mary's University Women's Basketball team left the West Texas A&M campus with a victory, beating the Lady Buffs 65-57 on Thursday night.
The Rattlers snapped a five-game losing skid and a six-game winless streak in Canyon to improve to 12-13 on the year and 8-11 in Lone Star Conference play.
The win was anything but easy as StMU scored only two of the first 13 points in the game, but they slowly crept back and outscored the Lady Buffs (17-10, 11-9) 41-31 in the second half.
The freshmen tandem of
Christin Callens (Houston) and
Raynne Malik (London, Ontario) combined to score 34 of the team's 65 points and grab 15 rebounds. Callens scored 14 with seven rebounds, while Malik scored a career-best 20 and brought down eight boards. Malik blocked four shots, and Callens collected two of the team's six steals.
Senior
Stina Svilberg (Tallinn, Estonia) continued her strong play of late, scoring 12 points while leading the team with a season-high nine rebounds. She also hit a pair of key three-pointers in the second half to start to create some distance.
Junior guard
Imani Ivery (Houston) tied for game-high honors with four assists, adding nine points and five rebounds as the Rattlers outrebounded the Lady Buffs 40-to-30.
WT was led by former Rattler
Taylor Haggan with a double-double, scoring 14 with a game-high 11 rebounds. Kyla Kane added 14 points.
The Rattlers trailed 11-2 midway through the first quarter, with Haggan scoring eight. However, StMU forced six turnovers to come back and tie the score at 13-13 on a pair of Callens free throws with 0.5 remaining.
The two teams went back and forth in the second quarter, with neither team grabbing more than a four-point lead, entering the locker room with the Lady Buffs leading 26-24. Malik led the team with nine points, while Svilberg and Callens each had six rebounds.
The third quarter featured three ties and 12 lead changes, with each team shooting well from the floor and the Rattlers holding a three-point lead at the buzzer after Imani made a tough jumper at the buzzer, 44-41.
The Imani shot at the buzzer turned the momentum, and the Rattlers outscored the Lady Buffs 21-16 in the final quarter for the 65-57 victory.
St. Mary's remains on the road, heading to Eastern New Mexico for a 2 p.m. (CT) contest on Saturday. The Greyhounds defeated St. Edward's, 60-52, on Thursday evening, finishing the game on a 9-0 run to complete the comeback.
