Women's Basketball Looks to Make Noise at LSC Tournament

This Week in Rattlers Basketball
Game #27 • Neutral Game #1 • vs West Texas A&M • Friday, March 6 • 2:30 p.m.
Notes & Connections
•    The quarterfinals of the LSC Tournament will be the third neutral-site game in the 14-game series history between St. Mary's and West Texas A&M.
•    WT junior Taylor Haggan played her freshman season at StMU, setting the freshman scoring record before it was broken last year by Christin Callens.
•    WT's Taylor Haggan and StMU's Raynne Malik were two of the five members of the Lone Star Conference All-Academic team.
•    West Texas A&M leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.04), assists/game (14.6), rebound margin (7.0), defensive rebounds (29.0), rebounds/game (40.86), scoring margin (15.9), scoring offense (75.8) and three-pointers (7.7).
On This Date: March 6
•    StMU is 3-3 all-time in games played on March 6 with an 0-1 record on a neutral court.
•    The Rattlers haven't played on the 6th since 2015, a 51-71 loss to UTPB at the Heartland Conference Tournament.

Postseason Play: The St. Mary's University Women's Basketball team qualified for the Lone Star Conference tournament for the first time since the team's inaugural year in the league, 2019-20. The Rattlers are the seventh-seed and will face second-seeded and #6 West Texas A&M at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

It's An Honor: St. Mary's had four players named to the LSC All-Conference teams as Christin Callens and Allie Garcia were both named to the Third Team and Quezia Bertoni and Raynne Malik were honorable mentions. Malik was also named to the five-player All-Academic team and five-player All-Defensive Team, and she was the only sophomore named to either team.

Trending Upward: The 16 wins for St. Mary's are the most since the 2018-19 season, while the 11 LSC wins are most in Head Coach Valerie Huizar's career. The record for league wins while a member of the Lone Star is 12 from the first season, 2019-20. 

Early Lead Important: The Rattlers are a perfect 12-0 this season when leading at halftime, and only 2-10 when trailing after 20 minutes.

Consistency Is Key: St. Mary's has used only two different starting lineups this season, and Christin Callens, Allie Garcia, Raynne Malik and Aina Maynou have started in all 26 games for the Rattlers. The only change has been that Andrea Montesinos started the first seven games before senior Quezia Bertoni returned from injury.

Within Striking Distance: This season's team has blocked 112 shots, which is ranks third on the single-season charts, and is only five away from the school record of 117 by the 1999-00 team. The Rattlers lead the Lone Star and rank 25th in the nation with 4.3 blocks per game.

Triple Threat: St. Mary's has made 188 three-pointers this season, which ranks fifth on the StMU single-season charts. The Rattlers rank fourth in the Lone Star Conference with 7.2 three-pointers per game, just 0.5 behind league-leader West Texas A&M with 7.7. The 2019-20 team holds the school record with 211 three-pointers in 28 games.

Triple or Nothing: Junior Allie Garcia has amassed a streak of 21 straight games with at least one three-pointer. Senior Aina Maynou has made at least one from beyond the arc in eight-straight games, and has made 20 in those eight games, including five each against St. Edward's (Feb. 9) and Western New Mexico (Feb. 21). 

Malik Matches Lobos: St. Mary's did a fantastic job of keeping Sul Ross State off the glass, as they out-rebounded the Lobos 43-to-19. Sophomore Raynne Malik grabbed 12 boards, matching all nine Lobos who combined for a dozen. SRS did have seven team rebounds. The 19 rebounds is the lowest by a St. Mary's opponent this season and the fewest by Sul Ross State in 2025-26.

Take Two, They're Free: Senior Quezia Bertoni is shooting 88.1 percent from the free throw line (52-for-59), which ranks third on the St. Mary's single season list. The single season free throw percentage record at St. Mary's is 91.2 percent by Donna Smith from 1985-86 (52-of-57).

Sultana of Swats: Raynne Malik has 58 blocked shots this season, which leads the Lone Star Conference, and is tied for third on the St. Mary's single season charts. Added to the 56 swats she had a season ago, and Malik ranks fifth on the school's career charts with 114. Malik currently ranks 10th in the nation with her 2.25 blocked shots per game.

Made To Be Broken: The Rattlers have seven student-athletes who have made 10 or more three-pointers this season, tying the school record for the most players with 10 makes or more. All 15 players on the roster have attempted at least one triple. The team has made 188 three-pointers, 34 more than their opponents (154). Last year's squad also had seven who made at least 10 from beyond the arc.

For the Highlight Reel: Twice this season, senior Aina Maynou has drained long three-pointers at the buzzer to end the first quarter. Maynou nailed a half-court shot in the team's 79-67 win over Western New Mexico on Dec. 4, and then pulled up well behind the arc to drain a shot as time expired in the first period at Oklahoma Christian on Jan. 22. 

They're Smart Too: The Lone Star Commissioner's Honor Roll for the fall semester was released on Jan. 20, and the Rattlers WBB team had 10 named to the list in Quezia Bertoni, Emily Buitron, Allie Garcia, Imani Ivery, Brooke Kleinig, Raynne Malik, Aina Maynou, Andrea Montesinos, Cornelia Petersson, and Peyton Stellato. Both Bertoni and Montesinos had 4.00 GPA's in the fall.

League Leaders: St. Mary's leads the Lone Star Conference in blocked shots (4.3), ranking 25th in all of Division II. The Rattlers also rank second in the LSC in field goal percentage defense (35.3), and third in defensive rebounds per game (26.8), scoring defense (55.8), and three-point percentage (33.0). 

Middle of the Pack: St. Mary's was selected to finish in the middle of the pack in the LSC this season, getting voted 10th in the 17-team league. The usual suspects topped the poll in Texas Woman's (20 first-place votes, 810 points), Lubbock Christian (14, 776), UT Tyler (8, 761) and West Texas A&M (6, 663). Eastern New Mexico rounded out the top five with two first-place nods and 657 points. The Rattlers grabbed 438 points for 10th in the poll.