Box Score

Video Recap

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – DAWN KIEL tallied 22 points but that was not enough as St. Edward's dropped a 63-51 decision to St. Mary's, Thursday evening at Bill Greehey Arena. This was just the next installment of the year-long competition between the schools in the “Battle of the Saints”. The Hilltoppers now hold a 3-to-0.5 edge in the standings. St. Edward's won the first two years of the competition.
 
St. Edward's (9-6, 2-1 HC) got the first basket of the game when SARAH KENDRICK picked up the offensive rebound and put it back for a quick 2-0 Hilltopper lead.
 
St. Mary's (13-3, 6-0 HC) responded by scoring the next nine points to take a seven-point lead. Jackie Woods was key for the Rattlers as she scored the final seven points of the run.
 
The Hilltoppers would hang tight with treys from STEPHANIE DEKKERS and Kiel sandwiched around a Rattler bucket to cut the lead to three points, 11-8, with 14:18 remaining in the opening half.
 
That is when the leading scorers for each team would take over. Woods would tally five more points to spark the Rattlers as they threatened to stretch their lead, but Kiel kept the Hilltoppers close as the senior would hit two more shots from downtown and end the first half with a game-high 12 points. St. Edward's did a good job on the offensive glass as it picked up seven offensive rebounds for seven second-chance points. At halftime, St. Mary's led the visitors, 30-25.
 
In the second half, St. Mary's kept the five-point lead through the first two minutes of action with a 32-27 lead with 18:02 remaining.
 
St. Edward's used a 10-4 run over the next five minutes to take its first lead since the opening bucket of the contest. Kendrick had four points during the run and capped it off with two free throws at the 13:45 mark.
 
After Kiel would knot the score at 45-45, with 6:35 remaining, the Rattlers would go on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to jump to a 55-45 lead, with 4:17 remaining. Lia Kioa would spark the Rattlers with six points in the decisive run.
 
Kiel would hit two free throws with 3:41 remaining to cut the lead to eight points, but that was as close as the Hilltoppers would get.
 
Kiel shot 7-for-13 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the three-point arc. Dekkers added 10 points for the visitors, but 23 turnovers and 36 percent shooting from the floor did the Hilltoppers in.
 
Kioa led the Rattlers with 16 points, while Morgan Pullins came off of the bench to score 14 points and grab 12 rebounds for a double-double. Woods added 13 points and Liz Boyd chipped in with 10 points and four assists.
 
St. Edward's will be back in action Saturday when they travel to take on Heartland Conference rival Texas A&M-International. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at the Kinesiology and Convocation Building. Live Stats will be available on the Dustdevil Athletic Website. There will be a minimal charge for live video.