January 8, 2009
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The St. Mary’s University women’s basketball team limited Lincoln University to just four field goals and 11 points in the first half and rolled to a 68-33 win in Heartland Conference women’s basketball action Thursday night at Jason Gym. In the men’s game, the Rattlers used a late run to win 74-57.
Four Rattlers scored in double figures in the game, led by Lesleigh Phillips (Fr., San Antonio) who had a career-high 13 points off the bench in just 19 minutes of action. Natalie Gamez (Sr., San Antonio) scored a game-high 14 points, including four three-pointers. Ashton Benford (Sr., Waxahachie) and Chastity Noble (Jr., El Paso) each had 11 points for the Rattlers.
As a team the Rattlers hit on 48.1 percent (26-54) of their shots from the field, including a sizzling 53.3 percent from three-point range. They also outrebounded the Blue Tigers 42-19. St. Mary’s started the game with a 13-2 run and increased their lead to 42-11 at the half. Lincoln never cut the Rattler lead to less than 30 points the rest of the way.
Nick Morey (Sr., Belpre, Ohio) and Marlon Smith (Fr., San Antonio) helped to key a 14-2 run that broke open a close game as St. Mary’s pulled away late to win the men’s game. With 17:00 left to play a pair of free throws by Donald Brumfield made the score 35-34 Lincoln. Over the next six and a half minutes the Rattlers held LU to just one field goal and took an 11-point lead. The Blue Tigers cut the Rattler lead to just two points with 7:16 left to play, but St. Mary’s finished the game with a 15-3 run over the final 3:01 to put the game away.
Smith scored a team-high 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Darren Lee (Jr., Stockton, Calif.) had 14 points, while Morey came off the bench to score 16 points. As a team the Rattlers hit on 45.3 percent (24-53) of their shots from the field, while holding Lincoln to just 31.4 percent (16-51).
With the win the women improved to 12-2 overall and 1-0 in Heartland Conference play. Lincoln fell to 1-8, 0-1. The Rattler men are now 6-7 overall and 1-1 in the Heartland Conference. Lincoln is 3-9, 0-1. St. Mary’s will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Wichita, Kan., to face Newman University in the first of a women’s/men’s doubleheader, starting at 2 p.m.