San Antonio – Charlena Rodez tied her season high with 27 points and St. Mary’s University committed a season-low 10 turnovers as the Rattlers defeated Southwestern College (Kan.) 66-60, in women’s basketball action Friday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena.

Rodez (Sr., Cedar Park) hit on 13-of-17 shots from the field to tie her season high in points. She also pulled down a season-best 12 rebounds to lead all players in that category. Both totals were just one off her career highs.

The game was a tight affair with seven ties and eight lead changes. After the final tie of the contest, at the 3:21 mark, the game turned. Rodez started the rally with a layup with 2:42 to play. The next possession she made a short jumper to give the Rattlers a 60-56 lead with 1:51 to play. She completed the solo 6-0 run with a layup with 1:02 to play to give the Rattlers a six-point edge. Juanita Merchant (Jr., Angleton) buried two free throws to ice the game with 34 seconds to play.

Natalie Gamez (So., San Antonio) had 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists, while Ashton Benford (So., Waxahachie) scored 12 points and pulled down six rebounds. As a team the Rattlers shot 41.0 percent (25-61) from the field and hit on 72.2 percent from the free throw line (13-18).

For the Builders Ileana Perez scored 18 points and Kara Beal added 11. SC made 41.1 percent (23-56) of their shots from the field, including 42.9 percent (9-21) of their attempts from three-point range.

St. Mary’s improved to 3-9 overall with the win, while Southwestern College fell to 7-5. The Rattlers will return to action on Jan. 4 when they open Heartland Conference play against Oklahoma Panhandle State University at 5:30 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena in the first game of a men’s/women’s doubleheader.

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