January 16, 2010
San Antonio – Liz Boyd and Chastity Noble combined to score 27 points, while the St. Mary’s University defense held Incarnate Word to just 12 second half points as the Rattlers pulled away for a 48-38 victory in women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at the McDermott Center.
After trailing by eight points at the break, the Rattlers went on a 9-2 run to start the second half, making it a one-point game with 15:20 left to play. With 7:56 left to play, Nia Torru hit a layup to make the score 35-31 UIW. From there, the Rattlers turned up the defensive intensity, outscoring the Cardinals 17-3 the rest of the way, to win going away.
Boyd (Fr., San Antonio) made 4-of-6 shots from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line to lead all players. Noble (Sr., El Paso, Texas) was 4-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. The only player to score in double figures for UIW was Torru with 11 points.
The Rattlers made 37.5 percent (15-40) of their shots from the field and 60.0 percent (15-25) of shots from the free throw line. UIW hit on 30.8 percent (16-52) of their shots from the field, but made just 4-of-24 shots from the field (16.7 percent) in the second half.
Incarnate Word held St. Mary’s to just 33.3 percent (7-21) shooting from the field to take a double-digit lead in the first half. However, Noble scored the final four points of the half, to make it a 26-18 game at the break.
With the win, St. Mary’s improved to 13-5 overall and 6-1 in Heartland Conference play this season. UIW fell to 11-6 and 6-1. The two teams are now tied for first place in the Heartland Conference, two-and-a-half games ahead of third place University of Texas-Permian Basin.