November 21, 2006
San Antonio – Southeastern Oklahoma State University used a decisive advantage at the free throw line and a big night from Jessica Hocker to defeat St. Mary’s University in non-conference women’s basketball action Tuesday night at Bill Greehey Arena.
Hocker hit on just 2-of-10 shots from the field, but made 20-of-24 shots from the free throw line to lead all scorers with 24 points. She also pulled down a team best eight rebounds and dished out five assists in 38 minutes of play. She was one of three Savage Storm players scoring in double figures as Kelli Arend had 17 points and Ashley Tucker added 15.
As a team the Savage Storm hit on 41.3 percent of their shots from the field, but made 33-of-38 shots from the charity stripe (86.3 percent). They took 23 more free throws than the Rattlers did in the game, despite getting called for just eight fewer fouls.
For the Rattlers Natalie Gamez (So., San Antonio) had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Dawn Killian (Sr., San Antonio) had 14 points, while Becca Herbst (Sr., Boerne) added 10 points.
After the Rattlers took an early 5-1 lead, SOSU responded with an 18-2 run. They never trailed after that. Trailing by 12 points at the break (37-25) the Rattlers started the second half with a 7-0 run, led by a pair of jumpers by Charlena Rodez (Sr., Cedar Park). They cut the lead to just three points on a jumper by Herbst with 15:23 left to play. But that was as close as they would get and the Savage Storm expanded the lead late to as much as 16 points down the stretch.
With the loss the Rattlers have now dropped two straight games and are 1-2 overall on the season. SOSU is now 3-1 overall. St. Mary’s will return to action on Friday when they travel to Kingsville to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville at 6 p.m. in the TAMUK Thanksgiving Day Shootout.